Changes
by Sagesse Reine
Summary: Story starts with the Blue Spirit episode. Mikomi and Aang were captured, then saved by the Blue Spirit. Very well developed OC, a good story I promise.
1. Chapter 1

Alrighty, first of all I don't own anything having to do with Avatar: The Last Airbender. I do own Mikomi so no stealing!

Please read and review and enjoy the story!

I like my readers to know my characters so here's a profile of Mikomi.

Character Name: Mikomi (meaning: Hope)

Age: 16

Height: 5'

Build: Small and very thin

Element: Fire

Weapons: Spear with curved, silver blade on each end with a black handle and a dagger

Nation: Fire Nation

Skill Description: Extremely skilled with her double-ended spear. Also very skilled in the martial arts. She is extremely fast because she is so small. She is a firebender, but she has never learned how to control her bending so she never bends. She may start camp fires and things like that but that's it. She meditates so her rage doesn't unleash her fire.

Home Village: Village in the Earth Nation

Personality Description: Cold, seems snobbish sometimes, and distant. Quiet, reliable, responsible, and serious. Strong-willed. Always ready to fight when needed. Rarely smiles. Very intelligent.

Appearance: Pale skin with jet black hair. Bright blue eyes (not customary for a firebender to have them), hair is pulled into a high ponytail that goes to her shoulders with two long pieces of hair that angle around her face. She wears a tight, black shirt that has a turtleneck-like collar and has no sleeves. She wears gloves that don't have finger coverings. She has black wrappings around her forearms. Her pants are black and baggy except for at the bottom. A silver belt hangs on her hips hold the sheath for her dagger.

Background: Mikomi's father was in the regiment of Fire Nation soldiers that would act as bait for a powerful Earth Kingdom army. When Mikomi's father left for the battle, Mikomi was about 2 years old. She stowed away on the ship. Her father died in the battle, but an Earth Nation civilian found Mikomi and raised her. The civilian was not an Earth Bender, but was a master at martial arts and he taught Mikomi all he knew. Mikomi is a firebender, but does not use her firebending for anything except for starting a fire, because she does not know how to control it. She went on a journey to find out about her past, but ran into Aang, Katara, and Sokka. Mikomi is strongly against the war and now travels with the Avatar to help him. Also so she can one day return to the Fire Nation to find out about her past.

* * *

Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Mikomi were inside a temple they had found in the Earth Kingdom. They were using this place as a temporary sanctuary from the violent storm. With Sokka being sick from his trip with that fisherman into the massive storm, it seemed like a good idea to stay put for a while.

Sokka lied on Appa in his sleeping bag, with Appa's fur helping to keep him warm. Katara sat on Appa next to him caring for him. Sweating profusely, he started to say odd things.

"You know what I love about Appa most? His sense of humor," Sokka said delusional.

"That's nice, Sokka," Katara said forcing a worried smile.

Appa responded with a groan, acknowledging what Sokka said about his supposed sense of humor.

"Haha, you're killing me," Sokka said.

Aang sat in front of Katara on the floor watching Sokka with a confused look on his face. Mikomi sat in a shadowed corner, leaning against the wall, with one leg bent up and the other stretched out. Her eyes were closed with her arms folded and her double-ended spear sitting next to her. Aang looked over at her, he knew she wasn't asleep. She always did that when she was thinking or just relaxing.

"Did you find any ginger root Aang?" Katara asked him with a worried voice.

"No, but I did find this map. There's an herbalist on top of that mountain. So, I'm going to go see if there's someone there who can help us," Aang said.

Katara began to argue with Aang about the usual, it's not safe deal. But Aang retorted, "I have to get something Katara! Sokka's starting to think he's an earthbender!"

"Take that you rock!" Sokka said waving his arms around like a lunatic.

Katara began to cough badly, and Aang began to worry about her as well. Mikomi sat in the corner listening to them. Aang finally got up and began walking toward the entrance of the temple. He stopped when Mikomi had said something for the first time since their arrival.

"I'm going with you," Mikomi said opening her bright, blue eyes and standing up. She brought something that looked like a small, silver pole out of her belt. It was actually a retractable fighting pole. It was one of three of her weapons: her double-ended spear, the retractable pole, and a dagger in a sheath on her belt. "To make sure you don't get into any trouble."

Her face was blank as usual. No signs of any emotion decorated her face. She walked up next to Aang. Mikomi was sixteen, but she was only about an inch or two taller than Aang and he was twelve. Well, technically one hundred twelve. Lightning split the sky, and Aang put his glider against the wall of the temple. They would have to go on foot.

"I'm going to be running as fast as I can, Mikomi. I don't think you'll be able to keep up. So I guess you'll have to ride piggy-back," he said smiling a little.

Mikomi glared at him for a moment and then sighed, stashing her retractable pole back into her belt. She unhappily got on Aang's back. Then he sped off toward the herbalist institute. Aang noticed how light she was, being so small and slim. Mikomi definitely did not like traveling as fast as the wind. It made her eyes water very badly. So she ducked her head behind Aang's. Once they had made it to the herbalist, Aang bent down a little so Mikomi could get off. She climbed down, with her jet-black hair completely wind-blown. Aang laughed, holding his stomach, at her wind-blown appearance.

"Moving as fast as the wind is not fun," she said attempting to fix her hair, which was pulled into a high ponytail that extended to her mid-back. Two thick strands of hair angled around her face.

Aang smiled in response and then turned towards the herbalist institute and jogged to it. Mikomi followed him after she had finished fixing her hair.

* * *

Aang and Mikomi left the herbalist institute after they found that their friends would be healed if they sucked on frozen wood frogs. Which Mikomi found completely crazy, but if that's what the crazy herbalist said, she would help Aang find the frogs.

Aang and Mikomi were exiting the herbalist's building when an arrow landed right in front of Aang. Mikomi instinctively pulled out her retractable pole and extended it to full length, which was taller than her. She searched the trees for the source of the arrow, but she couldn't see them.

Aang must've spotted them because he looked into the trees and said, "Uh, I think you dropped this."

Mikomi would've blown up on him for sayingsomething so stupid,but she was too worried about being killed. She grabbed him and yelled, "Run!"

They both ran towards a cliff with arrows landing behind them with every step they took. Aang was a little bit ahead of Mikomi, but Mikomi being so fast could keep up when he wasn't running full speed. Aang jumped over the cliff, Mikomi hesitated a bit but then jumped.

Aang was now in the trees. Mikomi also fell throough the trees with the branches cutting and slapping her face. She used her pole to slow her self down when she thrusted it into a tree. Aang was below her jumping down the trees and she followed jumping gracefully down through the trees. She saw that Aang was down in the water looking, so she jumped down splashing loudly, holding her pole above the cold, murky water.

"Aang, what are you doing!" she said growing frustrated.

"Getting the frogs!" he said bending over to scoop up the frogs. They were both standing by a log. An arrow flew through the air and pinned Mikomi's pants to the log, she tried pulling it out of the log, but it was too deeply planted into it. She looked up and saw them. The legendary Yuu Yan archers. Their extreme precision preceded their reputation. She knew that they had no chance now. Mikomi quickly made her pole shrink back to carrying size and slid it into the back of her belt. Looking over at Aang, who had formed a wall of ice in front of them, she noticed that he was also pinned to the log. She heard the arrows beat upon the ice wall. Then it shattered, ice splashing into the water.

Just like the ice wall, her hopes of any escape shattered.

Looking into the trees, she saw the Yuu Yan archers with a net, their cold eyes piercing into their prey. They first fired the net at Aang, of course because he was the Avatar. Then Mikomi saw the net coming towards her. She stopped struggling, deciding just to give up. But her temper rose, because of her dislike of being defeated. She had to use all of her effort not to set the log behind her on fire. Looking over at Aang, who looked terrified, she whispered as silently as she could, "It'll be alright."

Aang nodded looking nervous as the Yuu Yan Archers came to pick up their prey.

* * *

Alrighty first of all I want to say that my character Mikomi is not a Mary Sue-ish character. The girl is nothing like me. If you ever feel that she is becoming a kind of Mary Sue-ish character please inform, for it is my goal to avoid Mary Sue-ism.

I know the first chapter was kinda short but it's most of what I've got so for. I've been busy.

Also, don't expect any romance early in the story. Just to let ya know. Maybe later, much much later.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The chains were heavily weighing down on both Aang and Mikomi. They were chained between three columns. Mikomi was on the left and Aang on the right. The room was desolate and both of them had remained quiet. Mikomi, trying to think of some escape, but failing thus far and Aang, thinking about Katara and Sokka.

Their thoughts were disturbed when they heard the creaking of the door opening. Both of them looked up at the sound. They saw a Fire Nation armor-clad man. When the man walked up and was now in the light, Mikomi and Aang both recognized him as Zhao.

"We have finally caught you Avatar," Zhao said smirking down at Aang.

Aang just glared up into his eyes and said, faking bravery, "Let me go!"

Zhao glared at him then pulled out a scroll. He smirked and opened it saying, "That will not happen, Avatar. You are wanted." The scroll he had was a detailed wanted poster that showed Aang. It was drawn very well, even including his glider.

Zhao closed the scroll and placed it in his belt. He then walked over to Mikomi who was glaring at him from the moment he walked in. "You are wanted as well, girl," he said opening up a scroll identical to Aang's, except there was a drawing of her within it. Again, it was a perfect drawing, including detailed images of all of her weapons.

"And what am I wanted for?" Mikomi said becoming infuriated. She had a horrible temper that she lost control of easily, at times. Within her closed lips, she was clenching her teeth to refrain from losing her temper.

Zhao closed the scroll and began walking around the chain-bound Mikomi, like a hawk eyeing its prey. "You are wanted for attacking Fire Nation soldiers, for sabotaging Fire Nation traveling equipment, for stealing numerous items from the Fire Nation, and for many other crimes against us."

Aang looked at her questioningly because when she was with him, she had never done any of those things. Mikomi noticed Aang's confused look and said, trying to remain under control of her temper, "I did those things before I met up with you."

"So, you have confessed to your crimes," Zhao said smiling widely. He loved it when he won. "Well, then we must decide your punishment. Death seems suitable. Should it be done quickly or drawn out slowly and painfully?" Zhao was now standing in front of Mikomi, watching her as she glared into his cold eyes. "I like the second one. Perhaps we could give you to one of the soldiers to have some fun with you, first. Many men would enjoy that chance with a pretty, young girl like you."

Zhao was right. She was a pretty, young girl. Her figure was slim and slender. With her smooth, black hair she was pretty. But if you included her bright blue eyes, she was beautiful. Zhao looked into those eyes and then noticed something; they had changed to gold. He was baffled by the sudden change. Hadn't they just been blue?

Zhao's thoughts were interrupted when out of Mikomi's mouth came a stream of fire. She had to release the heat somehow. Fearing that her body would heat the metal chains around her and melt them causing her great pain, she let all of the heat and anger she contained through her mouth. The little trick she just performed was one of the few things she could do without losing control. Zhao had just barely dodged it, as he was standing directly in front of her. Her eyes now returned back to their normal blue.

"And you're a firebender! You traitor!" Zhao shouted as he was straightening himself from dodging the stream of fire. "Why did you do all of things to soldiers of your own nation!"

"The Fire Naiton is not my homeland! Yes, I was born there, but I was raised in the Earth Kingdom!" Mikomi shouted her response at him.

Aang watched the two nervously. He knew that Mikomi would go too far and get herself hurt.

"But you still are a firebender! Why did you attack your fellow firebenders, you disgusting coward!" Zhao screamed at her, his eyes filled with rage.

"I am no coward! And secondly, I attacked them because I am against this war! The Fire Nation has no reason to continue this war yet you do! It's all because of Ozai! The power hungry fool has no right to continue this war! He's a horrible excuse for a leader!" she shouted unleashing all of her rage through words.

The insult against his lord enraged the admiral. So he lifted his hand and swept it down across her face, backhanding her with much of his might. Mikomi winced for a second, but his vicious attack didn't stop her from speaking her mind.

Mikomi leaned her weight against the chains so she was now closer to Zhao so she glared into his eyes. "I GUESS A LAP DOG DOESN'T LIKE IT WHEN HIS MASTER IS INSULTED!" Mikomi screamed at the top of her lungs, accusing Zhao of being Ozai's lap dog, which was completely true.

Aang knew it. She had finally gone too far.

Zhao had enough of her insolence. He drew his fist back and hit her with all of his might this time. His fist landed in her stomach knocking all of the air out of her. Some spit flew for her mouth as her eyes narrowed and widened from the impact. Mikomi's weight fell on the chains as she inhaled heavily trying to retain her lost breath. Her eyes were now closed, and her face was contorted into a grimace.

"Stop it! Leave her alone!" Aang shouted at Zhao who was now smiling over the heavily breathing Mikomi.

"She has learned her place. Thanks to her mouth, her torture will be twice as worse," he said. Zhao turned and opened the door. He left the room smiling thinking about his job well done on the girl.

Once the door had shut behind Zhao, Aang turned to Mikomi and saw her in the same position. "Mikomi! Are you alright?" Aang asked worriedly.

"……f-fine…," Mikomi muttered still trying to catch the lost breath. Aang decided to help her and just using his fingers, he created a small, thin stream of air. Mikomi looked over at him and noticed what he was doing. She watched as the string of air flew over in front of her mouth. Realizing what Aang meant to do, she opened her mouth and inhaled the stream of air. She exhaled as her breathing returned to normal.

Mikomi looked over at him and said, "Thank you." She even cracked a small smile for a second, but the next it had disappeared, because she had tried to stand up straight, but it hurt her stomach too badly.

Both of the prisoners stared at the door, with most of their hope of escaping gone.

Zuko/Blue Spirit Point of View 

I was standing at the door after defeating the four guards that were posted here with ease. It was just as easy getting into the fortress. They really needed to find better guards, especially since they have the Avatar. Opening to door, I saw the Avatar and another person, both chained. The Avatar was standing straight up, but the other was hanging limp on the chains and their head drooped lifelessly. Once I had entered the room and closed the door, the drooping form's head lifted and revealed the face of a girl. It was the girl who always wore black that traveled with the Avatar. I wondered why that idiot, Zhao, had captured her, but then decided I couldn't leave her here. She was wearing black, which was of an advantage, so at least it would add to her stealth.

I pulled out my double swords, swinging them expertly and slicing through the air. Charging the Avatar, I heard him start screaming stupidly. He closed his eyes and then clenched his teeth, expecting a blow, but I cut his chains instead and then cut off the metal handcuffs. The boy looked up at me with a questioning glance. I was wearing a blue mask that my uncle had bought on one of his ridiculous shopping trips. He had bought a whole set of different colored ones that were exactly alike. At least they were of some use.

I walked over to the girl now who still drooped on her chains; she just looked up at me. As her face came into the light and I saw a large purple bruise covering her right cheek. I wondered for a moment how that had happened because it was a large bruise. I lifted my swords, but the girl didn't show fear. She just stared at me with a blank expression, her blue eyes shining along with her black hair. I then cut her chains, but right after I had cut them she fell to her knees, clutching her stomach and moaning. The Avatar ran over to her, grabbing her arm and saying, "Mikomi! Are you alright?"

The girl, Mikomi the Avatar had said, just pulled away stubbornly and said, "I'm fine."

She stood up after some difficulty, then her eyes turned to something in the corner of the room. It was a small, silver pole of some sort. She walked over to it and grabbed it sticking it into her belt. I didn't understand what she needed with a stupid, little pole, but I walked toward the door and motioned for both of them to follow. Opening the door, I stuck my head out to see if anyone had come. The two followed me slowly. I walked past a room that had half frozen toads it in, wondering what frogs were doing in a Fire Nation fortress, but I just continued on. The girl passed the frogs without a word, but the Avatar stopped and started grabbing them.

"The frogs! Stop unfreezing! I need you!" the Avatar said foolishly as he scooped up the frogs. The girl jogged back to him and grabbed his arm and pulled on him saying, "Aang come on! We can get those on the way back!" She pulled and pulled but couldn't budge the Avatar. I sighed to myself and walked back grabbing the Avatar by his collar and picking him up with one hand dragging him along, with the girl jogging behind me.

"Wait! My friends need to suck on those!" the idiot said. I let the comment slide by without any further thought.

The three of us, the girl, the Avatar, and myself, were out of the building, now crossing the dark grounds within the fortress walls. The Avatar, of course being an airbender, was very light and quick during the escape. I was most surprised by the girl, even though she seemed injured, she was extremely agile and very docile. She moved silently and quickly through the grounds. I lifted my sword pointing to a rope that stretched over one of the walls.

Once there the girl was the first to go up the rope, then the Avatar, then me. We were being completely silent, but the alarms suddenly sounded. One of the armor clad guards came up to the top of the rope and sliced it leaving us to fall. The Avatar did some sort of airbending trick letting all three of us land on our feet. I saw an open gate and again lifted my sword and pointed to it.

The girl nodded and the Avatar said, "Okay, stay close to me." He began running at a fast rate. The girl followed directly after him being extremely quick. I was to the side of her and I saw her pull the silver pole out of her belt, as she saw guards coming toward them.

'_What is she going to do? Beat them with that little stick?'_ I thought sarcastically to myself. But then the pole suddenly grew in size as she pressed some sort of button on the side of it. I remembered in their previous encounters that she did have a pole that length and I remembered that she was skilled in the martial arts. My thoughts were distracted when the Avatar had met a group of soldiers, whom he blasted to the side with a powerful gust of wind. As those guards scattered, more guards encircled the girl and me. I began to attack them, as did she. She was extremely fast and twirled her pole expertly, hitting any of her opponents, knocking them into the ground. We both fought for a while, but then all of the men around us were blown away. I turned and saw the Avatar holding a spear with the blade broken off.

"Hold, Mikomi!" he ordered me pointing his stick directly at me.

'_Who does he think he is giving me orders? I'm the one rescuing them!' _I thought to myself.

Aggravated, I picked up the girl bridal style, not knowing what the Avatar was going to do. He lifted the stick he was pointing at me and catapulted the girl and myself through the air. The girl didn't make a sound as we landed. I dropped her once we landed and then even more men surrounded us again. We took up our fighting stances, but then the Avatar came over the wall, twirling his stick over his head to fly. He used his legs to grab me under my arms, but he didn't grab the girl so I sheathed my swords quickly and grabbed her by the waist. The three of us flew over the wall. I held the girl close so that nothing would hit her, but spears started to come at us, and the girl held out her pole and said, "Lower me as far as you can."

I stretched out my arms lowering her as far under me as I could. She began twirling her pole just like the Avatar was doing above us. Her pole blocked all of the spears that came our way. We were almost to the next wall, when the Avatar began to grunt with the effort he was giving. He was beginning to scream and we landed on the wall. I landed on top of the girl and the Avatar landed on top of me. When I got up I saw that the girl had had her face planted into the cold stone. She stood up blinking, and said, "Ow…"

It was somewhat funny knowing that the girl had to land underneath of us, but the humor didn't last long as the soldiers had ladders made of bamboo that they were setting up so that they could capture us. There were three ladders. One of us was at each of them. I was using my swords to beat down the soldiers, the Avatar used his airbending, and the girl used her pole. Once the Avatar was rid of his soldiers, he helped the two of us defeat ours. He ordered us to pull up the ladders, so we did. The Avatar left his standing and he jumped out on it and ordered me to jump on his back. I did so and the girl jumped on me so she was sitting on my shoulders. I held her legs as the held onto the other ladders.

This escape plan was absolutely crazy. The Avatar used the ladders as giant stilts to get across to the next wall. We were almost there when one of the soldiers set our ladder on fire, making the Avatar jump off too early. He had to use his airbending to propel us far enough. I grabbed onto the wall, but I couldn't hold on. The girl didn't dare hold onto the wall because if I dropped with her legs still wrapped around my neck, she could hang me. We fell landing on the ground, this time the girl landed on top. The guards charged us and the Avatar grabbed my shoulders and spun me around, but before he could I grabbed the girl by the waist and took her with me. Now the Avatar was facing the guards and I had my back to them, using my body to shield the girl. I felt a great gust of wind go around us as the Avatar blocked an attack.

I heard the familiar voice that I despise, "Stop! The Avatar must be captured alive!"

I turned and saw Zhao standing there, looking somewhat nervous of losing his precious capture. Realizing a way out of the fortress, I grabbed the girl and the Avatar and put my swords at their necks. I doubt Zhao cared about the girl, but I had to have her under my blade so I could take her with me.

The anger that spread across Zhao's face brought me great joy. I smiled underneath the mask I wore.

"Open the gate," he forcedly said. The gate slowly opened and I back out just as slowly, showing them that the Avatar was an inch away from death. I watched them as I back away. I saw Zhao at the top of the wall as I was nearing the forest.

'_Almost there,'_ I thought hopefully. I thought we were going to make it, but then I heard something whistle through the air. By the time I spotted it, it was too late. An arrow hit me. My head throbbed with pain as I fell to the ground releasing my hostages. My vision blurred and then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Now in the forest, Aang sat under a tree, staring down at the ground, thinking. Mikomi was lying in a bed of leaves. She was in a lot of pain from the previous night's escape. Her abdomen hurt from overuse. Wide-awake, she stared up at the sky. Turing her head to her left, she observed an unconscious Prince Zuko. He was lying in his own bed of leaves. Mikomi was still pondering over any reasoning she could find to why he would rescue them. Then she looked at Aang, who had a somber expression that was even more noticeable in his eyes.

Sighing, she got up after some difficulty and walked over to Aang.

"What troubles you Aang?" she said seriously, looking down upon him.

"Nothing…" Aang kept his head down. He was a terrible faker.

"Aang, I can tell when something troubles you. Now tell me. It will feel better to talk about it," she said folding her arms.

"I just don't understand it, Mikomi. Why would Zuko save us?"

Mikomi would've sat down, but she didn't want to go through all of the trouble of standing back up again. "I don't understand it either, Aang. There must have been some benefit for him"

"I don't know," Aang said looking up into her eyes.

Both of them were silenced when they heard a groaning. Their heads snapped to the source and they saw Prince Zuko, now conscious. His unscarred eye looked upon Aang.

"I had a friend 100 years ago. We used to get out of a lot of trouble like that. And he was from the Fire Nation, just like you," Aang said turning his head to look at Zuko. The memories of a better time brought a smile to his face for the first time that morning. "Do you think we could have been friends?"

Zuko looked at him for a second then stood quickly, sending a blast of fire in Mikomi's and Aang's direction. Aang jumped above it agilely and completely avoided it. Mikomi sidestepped, barely getting out of the way in time. After that effort, Prince Zuko noticed her clutching her stomach, obviously still pained for some reason in her stomach.

Aang ran away from Zuko, but not as fast as he could so Mikomi could keep up. She followed Aang, but in serious pain. Her normal run was reduced to a jog. Zuko ran after the two, going as fast as he could. He gained a lot of ground on Mikomi, who was slowing by the second and her breathing became much more labored. Suddenly, she stopped still clutching her stomach and fell to her knees. Zuko took advantage of this moment and picked up his speed. Aang had just noticed that she wasn't behind him and saw her on her knees, breathing heavily and holding her stomach. Then he noticed that Prince Zuko was right behind her. Aang turned and ran toward Mikomi, but he was too late.

Prince Zuko grabbed her arm tightly and pulled her to her feet. Wrapping his arm around her neck, he held her above the ground and had a free hand to attack the Avatar if necessary.

"Give yourself up Avatar," Zuko demanded. "Or else your friend will be coming with me."

"Let her go!" Aang shouted at him, fear filling his eyes.

Aang didn't hear the response from Zuko, because as Mikomi was using both of her hands to hold onto the arm that was suspending her in the air, she spoke.

"A-Aang," she said as she pulled herself up so she could speak. "Go…back to….Katara and…S-Sokka."

"But, Mikomi. I can't just leave you here," he said saddened by her wish to sacrifice herself.

"You c-can't…afford to be…c-captured," Mikomi said stuttering.

"But…"

"G-go, I'll…b-be fine," she said trying to get some air into her lungs.

Aang took one last regretful look at Mikomi, and then bounded off into the trees.

Prince Zuko was astonished by her sacrifice. She gave herself up just to protect the Avatar. He was infuriated by her decision, for it had cost him the Avatar.

He let her out of the headlock and let her fall to the ground. Mikomi landed on her feet, but instantly fell to her knees, still in extreme pain. Zuko watched her for a second and then picked her up again, slinging her over his shoulder.

She shrieked in pain, because it was her stomach that was indeed in pain. Prince Zuko remembered that her stomach was hurt, but he didn't care. He began to walk towards his ship.

* * *

A little while later, Mikomi was relatively still, except for the occasional shift in position trying to make it less painful. Prince Zuko was caught by surprise when something wet penetrated the clothing on his back. Turning, he looked for the source of the wet sensation, and then he realized it had come from the girl. The prince took her off his shoulder and held her up so that he could see her face. 

The girl's face was wet with tears, teeth gritted, and she let out a moan of pain. He felt a small twinge of pity for the girl, because she had kept quiet about her pain for the entire time he had been walking.

"Can you walk well enough?" Zuko questioned glaring into her tear-filled eyes.

Her sole response was a small nod. But before he set her on the ground, he said, "Do not try to escape. You will regret it if you do."

"Do you think I'm some kind of idiot?" she questioned sharply wiping tears from her face. Prince Zuko let her drop to the ground. Faltering a bit, she stood up and added, "You and I know very well I can't get too far in my condition."

He glared at the girl knowing she was right. Grabbing her tightly on the forearm, he said "Come on."

* * *

They walked for quite some time, Mikomi would occasionally slow and Prince Zuko would pull her roughly beside him. His tight grip never loosened and hurt her arm. 

Now at the bottom of his ship, Prince Zuko had to nearly drag Mikomi up the walkway to board his ship.

He was irritated by her lack of desire to walk on her own, so his grip on her arm didn't loosen. Stomping up the walkway, he began to hear the sound of a Sungi horn. When the two reached the deck of the ship, they saw a man sitting on a bench by the railing playing the horn.

Zuko realized it as his silly, old Uncle Iroh. But, Mikomi realized him as something else: the Great General Iroh, Dragon of the West.

"Hello, Nephew! You missed music night! Lieutenant Ji sang a stirring love song," Iroh said happily to his nephew.

"Not now, Uncle," Zuko said walking past him.

The Dragon of the West noticed the girl that Zuko was dragging on to the ship and said, "Who is that, nephew?"

"No one," Zuko replied angrily.

'_Oh, so now I'm a no one,'_ Mikomi thought to herself. From the point where Zuko was strangling her arm to her hand, it was now numb and she was sure she'd have a good bruise to prove it.

Zuko dragged her all the way to the prison cells. He opened up one of the cells and shoved her in. The cell had bars on three sides and a steel wall in the back. There was nothing in the cell, not even a chair. Zuko watched her examine her surroundings.

"Comfortable?" he asked smirking.

Mikomi glared back, but then, with a false sound of cheeriness in her voice, said, "Oh, yes most comfortable. The less nice Fire Nation prison cells had water on the floor, cockroaches, and rats. This one is definitely the nicest I've ever stayed in."

Zuko's fists were beginning to glow an orange color. Her smart mouth really annoyed him. Walking out of the room, his whole body was almost glowing and steam began to pour from his mouth.

Mikomi was satisfied with how she enraged him. If he was going to keep her here, she surely wouldn't make it easy for him.

Looking at her surroundings, she noticed that there were no vents coming into her cell, so she didn't have a way out. Unless she melted the bars of the prison cell, but that would take time and she wouldn't risk it. The firebender often lost control of her fire.

She walked over to the corner and noticed that her pole and her dagger were no longer on her belt.

'_That arrogant Prince must have stole them off of me, when he was dragging me here,'_ she thought to herself.

Sitting down slowly, so she wouldn't aggravate her abdomen, she quickly became worn from the previous days activities. She sat straight up with her legs stretched out in front of her and her arms crossed. Her eyelids quickly became heavy and finally she gave into to her weariness and drifted into sleep.

* * *

"Wake up!" 

That was the first thing to greet Mikomi the following morning, someone screaming at her.

She realized it as Prince Zuko's voice and opened her eyes. Mikomi was still in the same position she had fallen asleep in.

"I called you three times! Answer me the first time! What's the matter with you!" he said bossily. Mikomi's vision cleared and she saw the Prince in his armor and holding a tray. His face was contorted into a glare.

"Well, being captured twice within two days can take a lot out of you," she said returning the glare.

"Here's your breakfast," Zuko said sitting it on the floor and using his foot to push it over to her. He stood in the door of the cell and didn't want to move so she couldn't escape. Mikomi noticed his boot touched the bread and gave it a look of disgust.

"Oh, wonderful! I get to taste your boot on my bread this morning! How nice," she said smartly.

The next thing she new Zuko was standing above her with a flame right in front of her face.

"Say something smart again, and you'll be eating this flame for breakfast," Zuko said.

Mikomi didn't even flinch, because, unbeknownst to him, he was shoving her element in her face. She stared at the flame for a second and then looked up at Zuko.

Seeing that the flame didn't bother her, he moved it away from her face. He returned to the door of the cell and leaned against the frame of it and watched her, crossing his arms. Mikomi took a look at the food. She picked up the tray and sat it on her lap. Picking up the bread, she noticed something. A very thin layer of white powder was on the bread.

'_How pathetic,'_ she thought to herself smiling. Prince Zuko noticed her smile and began to worry.

'_She hasn't noticed it has she?'_

Then Mikomi picked up the class of water that was in a tin cup. She looked in the water and noticed that it wasn't entirely clear. Looking at the rim, she noticed the same film of white powder. There was a bowl of soup as well and she saw the same thing on the rim of the bowl.

Then Prince Zuko saw her look around the prison room. He didn't know that she was looking for a sign of a rat or mouse to test the food, but she saw none.

'_I guess I'll have to find out the other way,'_ she though to herself smiling.

Taking the end of the black wrapping on her forearm, she tore of a piece that was about the size of her palm. Then she picked up the bread and wiped it with the piece of black cloth, getting much of the powder on it. Examining it she threw it so it sat right between her and Zuko.

"Prince Zuko, would you be so kind as to set that piece of cloth on fire for me?" she asked grimly.

"Why?" he asked roughly.

"Oh, I just want to see the beautiful colors of the flame. A small flame will do," Mikomi said smiling a false smile.

He decided to comply with her silly wishes, just to shut her up. With a flick of his wrist, he set the cloth on fire. At fire the flame was a light blue, then it turned green and went out leaving the cloth as ashes.

"Just what I thought," she said grabbing the tray and putting the bread back on. Glaring at Zuko, she said, "Thanks for the food, but no thanks."

After that was said she pushed the tray over towards him and it stopped at his feet.

"Why don't you want your food!" he asked getting infuriated.

"I don't like eating food that is **drugged**!" she shouted in response to him.

"What do you mean!"

"Oh, you can drop the act, Zuko! You drugged my food with Drowsiness Drought! I've seen it so many times before in the other prison cells! It is a fine, white powder that causes people to become extremely drowsy. It's used to make people easier to handle and, I don't know, easier to question about the Avatar!"

"What if that wasn't Drowsiness Drought! Many drugs are white!"

"Only Drowsiness Drought, burns blue and then green. Thanks so much for setting that cloth on fire for me, because I would've had no idea what is was if you hadn't!"

She had completely outsmarted him. Prince Zuko's whole body was flaming now and smoke was falling out of his mouth. Mikomi felt the intense heat radiating off his body, but was not affected by it. She had endured extreme heat before, because fire was indeed her element. Then Prince Zuko, in his rage, fired two fireballs toward Mikomi. She jumped up over top of the first one and spun in the air as the second fireball came at her. It clipped her right shoulder, sending her down landing on her stomach.

Holding her arm and gritting her teeth, she looked at Zuko whose eyes were glowing with rage.

"What is your problem!" she shouted at him. Her shout seemed to wake him from some sort of trance. He realized what he had done and instantly regretted losing control like that. The memories of his father hurting his mother like that instantly came back to him. Then he looked into Mikomi's eyes and was terrified by himself. Backing away out of the cell, he locked the door. Then he ran out of the prison to escape the pain of his actions.

* * *

I hope you guys liked this chapter. No this is not the Zuko captures girl, Zuko falls in love with girl story. They're going to dislike each other for a looooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnng time. 


	4. Chapter 4

Mikomi held on to her charred shoulder, trying to bear the pain. The cool feel of her leather gloves without finger coverings made it feel a little better. It still stung badly though.

It had been a while since Prince Zuko had thrown his temper tantrum. Mikomi didn't know exactly how long, because there was no way to tell time in her cell. She began to desperately miss Aang, Katara, and Sokka. Although Aang could be too energetic, Katara could be too much of a good girl, and Sokka could be too much of an idiot, she missed their company. At least they never threw violent temper tantrums and tried to drug her.

Two soldiers walked into the prison and were greeted by a pair of shocking blue eyes glaring at them. Mikomi was not happy to see them and wondered why they were here.

The two armor-clad men walked over to her cell and one unlocked it. They opened the cell and walked toward Mikomi, who was sitting in the corner. She blended in well with the dark wall of steel, as she was dressed entirely in black and her hair was jet black as well. The things that were most noticeable were her eyes. They stood out above the black; they were large and filled with emotion.

The men grabbed her forearms and pulled her to her feet. She was at about shoulder height to them. Mikomi was about to start fighting them, but she figured it was pointless and just let them lead her out of the prison.

The three of them walked down many corridors and finally stopped at a room. They walked through the door way and Mikomi took in her surroundings. The room was of average size and had a metal table that was bolted to the floor in the middle of it. A chair sat behind it. The only other things in the room was a strange monkey statue that had a ring of red jewels around its neck and masks on the wall. Mikomi recognized the mask on the wall. It was the blue mask Prince Zuko wore when he had rescued her and Aang. There were 3 other masks; a red one, a green one, and a black one. All of the masks were identical, except for the colors.

The soldiers walked Mikomi over to the chair and forced her down into it. They pushed on her shoulders to sit her down and she winced when one of them touched her right shoulder. One of them grabbed her wrists and brought her hands behind the chair. Putting handcuffs on Mikomi, the soldier had Mikomi attached to the chair. She realized this to be an interrogation.

_Zuko probably will be the one to question me. Too bad he won't get any information out of me._

After the soldier had inspected hishandcuff work,the two of them walked over to the door and stood at the entrance, staring her down. She stared back and at one point began glaring at them.

Her glaring was cut short when Prince Zuko strode into the room. Looking at Mikomi, he gave the soldiers the command to leave the room. The two saluted and left without a word. Prince Zuko quickly locked the door behind him, apparently not wanting to be disturbed. He turned with his hands clasped behind his back and looked at Mikomi.

He noticed that the bluish bruise on her left cheek was still as vibrant as ever, stretching from her lower cheek, up next to her eye. The girl stared at Prince Zuko with an emotionless look on her face.

"This is an interrogation. Answer all the questions I ask you and I won't have to do anything…regrettable," the Prince said now standing at the table looking down upon Mikomi.

Prince Zuko waited for some kind of response, but never got one, so he began with the questioning.

"What is your name?" He decided to start with the simple questions that she would answer.

There was a long silence and then Mikomi muttered, "Mikomi."

Zuko began to walk in a circle around the table and her. "How old are you, Mikomi?"

"16," she replied.

Prince Zuko was genuinely shocked by this. She looked a lot younger than she actually was, being so small. Mikomi noticed the shocked look on his face and then asked,

"What?"

"It's just that…well…you don't look 16," he responded as he stopped circling her.

"And why is that?" Mikomi asked, with her temper rising. She knew why he thought that.

"Well…you're just so-."

"Short," she cut him off. "You don't need to tell me. I've been told enough already."

Zuko noticed that she was becoming angry, and decided to avoid that topic and continue with the questioning.

"What nation where you born in?" he asked continuing his circling of the table.

_Oh no. If I tell him what nation I was born in he might find out that I'm a firebender._

Mikomi turned her eyes to the wall and stared at a mask. She sat in silence in for a while, when Prince Zuko walked up to her and glared down on her and lifted his hand into her face. Flames jumped to life around his fist and he said, "I said, what nation were you born in?"

Mikomi would have not worried about the flame in her face if her hands weren't bound behind the chair. So she muttered, "Fire Nation."

Prince Zuko didn't hear her so he pulled his flaming fist away from her face and said, "What did you say?"

"Fire Nation," she said looking into her lap.

"You were born in the Fire Nation?" he asked shocked.

"Yes, but I was raised in the Earth Kingdom."

"Are you a bender?" he asked.

He didn't know it, but he had just asked the question she had hoped to avoid. Again, she went quiet.

"Answer my question!"

"Yes…" she answered quietly.

"What do you bend?"

"…fire."

Prince Zuko was being shocked a lot during this interrogation. First this girl was born in the Fire Nation and now she's a firebender?

"But I never saw you firebending when you fought against my men," Zuko said.

"Like I said earlier, I was raised in the Earth Kingdom, and there are no firebenders there. I never bend, because…I don't know how to control it," she said as her face revealed the shame within her. A firebender who couldn't control her fire.

"You said you were born in the Fire Nation though. Why were you raised in the Earth Nation?" he asked, standing next to her.

"I'm not exactly sure. The man who raised me told me that my father was a soldier in a young regiment that was supposed to act as bait to an Earth Kingdom regiment, somehow I stowed away and got on the boat over to the Earth Kingdom. I was only two at the time. My father found me when we docked at the Earth Kingdom and took me with him, because he couldn't just leave me on the ship. My guardian told me he died as bait, a tactic Ozai used often. My guardian found me and raised me, teaching me everything he knew about the martial arts. I left him about a year ago."

"So you had no one to teach you," Prince Zuko said.

Mikomi nodded gravely. She was so ashamed of her lack of control. "My guardian knew I was a firebender, but anyone else I met didn't."

Prince Zuko was surprised by himself, because he actually felt sorry for the girl. He was surrounded by firebenders growing up, so he always had a teacher, who was most of the time Uncle Iroh. He also knew that many people were prejudice against the Fire Nation and anyone who could bend fire. He couldn't imagine having to keep his talents secret. Deciding to avoid that topic, he asked another question.

"Why did Zhao capture you along with the Avatar?"

Mikomi then told him about how she had caused troubles for Fire Nation soldiers, because she was against the war.

"I'm guessing Zhao gave you the bruise, am I correct?"

Mikomi responded with a nod.

"Why did he though?"

"I told him that the war was pointless and Ozai was only keeping it going because he was power hungry. I called Ozai a fool of a leader and he hit me," she said cautiously. She was afraid that what she had just said would set Zuko off. She was right.

"My father is not a fool!" he shouted at her.

"He is. This war is hurting your country. The war takes away all of the men who manufacture goods that the Fire Nation trades with other nations. It's killing your economy and it's hurting your people."

"What do you mean hurting my people?"

"All of the mothers, sisters, fathers, brothers worrying about their loved ones," Mikomi said staring at Prince Zuko now.

Prince Zuko thought on her words for a second. She was right. The economy must be suffering badly and all of the people who lost their loved ones were suffering even more. Not wanting to continue with the subject, he continued asking questions.

"Did Zhao hurt you in any other way?"

"Well, you've probably seen me clutching my stomach sometimes. He punched me."

Zuko was curious to see the results of Zhao's attack. So he lowered his hands to her stomach and grabbed the bottom of her tight, black shirt.

"Excuse you! What do you think you're doing?" she shouted now squirming, trying to avoid his hands to no prevail. For he had already lifted her shirt, to see her abdomen, which was very well defined. There was a great bluish-brown bruise covering her entire abdomen.

_No wonder she was clutching her stomach all the time. That looks painful._

Lowering her shirt, he received a dirty glare from Mikomi, but he just ignored it.

Prince Zuko was disgusted by Zhao's violence, especially towards a woman.

"I'm guessing you said something else that he didn't like."

"I called him Ozai's lap dog, which is only the truth," she said.

Mikomi was surprised to see that he was now smiling, while he was looking at her. Prince Zuko noticed the look of confusion she was giving him and said, "I'm glad someone finally told him."

Mikomi was shocked by how happy he was that she mouthed off to a person of his own nation. He must really hate him.

"Were you surprised to find me under the mask?" he asked now smirking.

"Yes, both of us were," Mikomi said.

"What happened after I was knocked out?" he asked.

Mikomi sighed and said, "Well, at first we were going to just leave you there. Then, we realized that you saved us so we had to repay the debt. If Zhao had found out it was you under the mask, who knows what he would've done to you. So Aang carried you away from the fortress."

Prince Zuko was now thinking about what she had just said. He found another question to ask her.

"Why do you care if I get hurt or killed?"

"Aang and I cared, well, because you had just saved our lives. The honorable thing to do would be to repay the debt. Secondly because we're both tired of seeing people die. We were given a choice. Let you live or let you die. Neither of us would have chosen to let you die. Even if you are trying to capture him."

Zuko stared at her, thinking.

_No one, other than Uncle and mother, has ever cared about my life that much._

Then the question that the Avatar had asked him came back to haunt him again.

_Do you think we could have been friends?_

He hadn't had friends in years. He almost forgot what it was like. Prince Zuko wanted to have friends, people that cared for him, just because they like him. He wanted to feel liked again. A mask of hate and rage covered his pain. He wanted to be able to take off that mask.

Remembering his task, he continued on with the questioning.

"Where is the Avatar?"

Mikomi looked at him for a moment with a cold, stern expression, but then responded.

"I don't know. He's probably left the place we were at by now," she said staring into his golden eyes.

"And where is the place you were at?"

"Well, considering that I didn't have a good view from your back and that I have no idea which direction the place where we were is, I don't know. Besides, I wouldn't tell you if I did know," she said, glaring at him.

Her ignorance was annoying Prince Zuko. He walked behind her and looked down at the back of her head.

"Where is the Avatar headed?"

Mikomi glared down into her lap. She really just wanted to pull out her pole and hit Zuko on the back of the head right now. Sitting in silence for some time, she wondered what Zuko was doing behind her.

Zuko wasn't behind her now. He had jumped up from behind and now looked infuriated.

"Answer me!" he shouted at her.

"I will not give you an answer to that question. You have nothing to threaten me with and nothing to bribe me with. You'll never get that information from me," she said coldly.

Mikomi could already feel the room heating up. He was becoming more infuriated by the second. Jumping in front of the seated Mikomi, he held up flaming fist into her face once more.

"What if I threaten your life!" he shouted at her.

Mikomi's eyes brimmed with tears as she said, "My life is of no importance to anyone. It would not matter if I died. I have no family, nothing that would make my life worth living. My life is put to greater use if it is used to help the Avatar to save this world. His life is more important than mine and I would gladly surrender my life to protect his."

Prince Zuko was taken aback by her words, as a solitary tear ran down Mikomi's face. She had just called herself worthless. He drew his fist away from her face. He had never seen anyone so…broken.

Mikomi tried to hold it back, but it was no use. 14 years of pain came pouring out. She sobbed and slumped in the chair.

"Nobody cares…"

That was the last thing she said before she started sobbing uncontrollably. She just let the tears come out. She felt so much: pain, depression, shame, and humiliation. Humiliation for breaking down in front of the Prince of the Fire Nation.

Prince Zuko was not entirely sure what to do. He had never dealt with sobbing girls before. He had felt something that had not felt in a long time: pity. This girl had gone through so much.

No parents, no family, no friends, no love. No one to teach her how to fire bend; he couldn't imagine himself without his firebending. It was a part of him, as he was sure it was a part of her. Prince Zuko watched her and waited until she calmed herself.

Deciding to finish the interrogation with that, he walked beside her and grabbed her shoulder, pulling the girl to her feet, rougly.

Mikomi didn't feel like resisting, so she just let him guide her out of the room with his hand on her shoulder. He led her down a couple of corridors and stopped at a room. It was relatively small, but had a bed with a metal frame in the corner, a wooden drawer chest, and a feeble looking chair. All of the furniture was nailed to the floor; Mikomi guessed that was to keep the furniture from sliding. There was a small window that let in the only light, other than a fire-lit lamp on the wall.

"This is where you will be staying, now," he said, letting go of her shoulder.

"Why?" she asked.

"Since I found out you are a firebender, you could melt through the bars. It would take much longer to melt through a thick, steel door," he said.

Prince Zuko grabbed the chain of the metal handcuffs on Mikomi's wrists, and pulled her toward him. She grunted, as she was pulled backward so suddenly.

Prince Zuko pulled out a small, silver key and put them into the lock and turned the key until he heard it click. Once he did the same with the other cuff, he pulled them off.

Mikomi suddenly fell to her knees, in a bowing position, holding her stomach, quivering, and moaning.

Prince Zuko knelt next to her and lifted her head up, cupping her chin in his hand. He noticed that she was starting to sweat, obviously pained badly.

"What is wrong?"

"My…abdomen…can't…take…it," she said labored by speaking.

Zuko forgot about the injury and didn't even think about getting it looked at. He lifted her up, so she was sitting on her feet. Putting his arm behind her back, he said gently, "Lay back."

With her teeth gritted and moaning, she slowly laid back until she felt Zuko's arm. Once she had her back on his arm, he put his free arm under her legs and lifted her gently, and bridal style. He carried her over to the bed and laid her down as gently as he could.

"I'm going to go get the ship doctor," he said to her, then turning to jog out the door.

* * *

I hope you liked this chapter. 


	5. Chapter 5

Prince Zuko, standing outside of his prisoner's room, was awaiting the results of the doctor's examination on Mikomi. The doctor had been in there for quite a while. Zuko heard the occasional groan, but nothing else.

Finally, the door creaked open and the doctor stepped out.

"How is she?" Zuko asked.

"Well, she has severe bruising on her abdomen, which I wrapped up, with some…difficulty," he said frowning.

"What difficulty?" Prince Zuko said to the doctor.

"That girl is a little stubborn. She didn't like it when I told her I had to lift her shirt up a little. The room got really hot. Is she a firebender?" he asked.

"Yes," Prince Zuko said, smirking at the girl's bad temper.

"Yeah, she had the temperament of a firebender. Well, I managed to bandage up her abs. I gave her a salve for that bruise on her face, which should make it wear off within days. She'll use the same salve when the bandages on her abs come off. She also had a nasty burn on her right shoulder," he said, recounting Mikomi's condition to Zuko.

Prince Zuko frowned at the mentioning of that particular injury, since it was he who gave it to her.

The doctor noticed this and lifted an eyebrow in suspicion, but continued with his report.

"It was infected, so I fixed it up and bandaged that up. That girl has been through a lot," he said with pity in his voice.

"How do you know?" Prince Zuko said.

"You should see all of the scars she has. Just terrible. Most of them look like burns, most likely if she was ever captured by other firebenders before. She has a lot of cuts on her forearms, which is why she always wears those black coverings, I assume. On her back, there's a lot of whipping scars too. Poor girl," the doctor said shaking his head.

"Thank you, doctor. That will be all," Prince Zuko said.

The doctor made a low bow and walked away. Prince Zuko opened the door and saw Mikomi sitting up in her bed, rewrapping the black strips of cloth around her arms. Her eyes jerked up and connected with Zuko's golden eyes. Zuko could see the weariness in her eyes. She probably had not had a decent sleep for awhile.

Mikomi's left forearm was bare, revealing multiple, red scars and burns that took the shape of handprints completely covering it. The right forearm, which she was in the process of wrapping, resembled the other.

Zuko walked over to the bed and grabbed her left forearm, causing Mikomi to grunt. He examined it, wondering how this girl could have survived it.

"Who did this to you?" Zuko asked, with a business-like tone.

"When I was in other Fire Nation prisons, they did this to me often," she said pulling her arm away to continue wrapping it.

"Why?" Zuko asked.

Mikomi sat in silence for a moment and then said, "I don't know. For fun I guess, because they had no other reason to do it."

Prince Zuko was disgusted by the brutality of his own nation. How people could do this to a woman was beyond him. He never did believe in hurting women.

Mikomi had finished wrapping her left forearm, when a loud growling sound caused her to stop. She clutched her stomach and grimaced.

Prince Zuko had just realized that she hadn't probably eaten in two days. Mentally kicking himself for forgetting, he looked down at Mikomi.

"Why didn't you say you were hungry?" he asked.

Mikomi glared for a second and said, "At the other prisons they beat me even more if I asked about food."

Prince Zuko was astonished by how cruel they were toward her. No wonder she was so thin.

"Well, rest assured that you will not suffer any beatings here. If you do you are to inform me," he said with his hands clasped behind his back.

Mikomi just stared at him, wondering why he would care. Prince Zuko didn't feel comfortable with her remaining silent and staring at him so he turned and walked toward the door. He put his hand on the handle to the door, but stopped.

"I will return with some food," he said, opening the door.

He walked out and with that Mikomi lay down in the bed, weary from lack of sleep. She fought a losing battle against the weight of her eyelids. Wanting to be awake for the food, Mikomi tried to stay awake. Five minutes later she realized that it was futile to force herself to stay awake, so she let her eyes close and her weariness sweep over.

* * *

Prince Zuko carried a tray with some simple foods. Bread, soup, water. The same thing he had given her before, but this time he decided to hold off on the drugs. Opening the door, he saw the girl lying down, with her back facing the door.

He walked into the room, making as much noise as he could to wake the girl before he had to resort to physically waking her. Stomping over to her bed, the girl stirred a little in her sleep, mumbling something, and then fell silent again. Sighing, Prince Zuko would have to wake her himself.

He jabbed her in the shoulder with his finger, waking the girl so quickly that she jumped into a sitting position and put her arms into a fighting position. Realizing who it was that woke her, she stopped herself from attacking.

Her eyes were wide with shock, from waking so suddenly. She obviously was attacked often in her sleep, because it looked like a normal reaction. Then, with ravenous eyes, she noticed the tray of food.

Mikomi grabbed the tray so quickly; Zuko didn't even have time to react. She devoured the food, because she couldn't stand it any longer.

Prince Zuko was a little taken aback by her lack of manners. So he walked out of the room as the girl thoroughly enjoyed her meal.

* * *

Mikomi was now sitting in the mess hall next to Prince Zuko, who had said that he doesn't wish to act like a servant bringing food to her everyday, so she had to eat in the mess hall with all of the other sailors and soldiers. Mikomi had a wonderful sleeps the previous three nights, because she had slept in an actual bed the first time in two and a half years. Her appearance was rough with bags under her tired eyes. After she had eaten, she bathed, which made her feel so much better. Her injuries were healing well. The bruises on her face and stomach were gone, but her stomach still pained her.

The ship had set sail two days ago after Aang flew over them on Appa.

The food was very good to her, but any food right now was good. Even though she had a meal the previous days, her hunger was not satisfied. She bore through her food at a disturbingly quick speed. Now she sat, staring at a wall, while Zuko and Iroh ate.

"So where are you from, Mikomi?" Iroh said, getting uncomfortable with the silence.

"Earth Kingdom," she said, breaking her stare at the wall to look at Iroh, who had finished eating.

"But you are a firebender aren't you? How were you raised in the Earth Kingdom?"

"I'm not exactly sure, my guardian didn't know. He just found me," Mikomi said folding her arms over her chest and staring down into her lap.

"Who was your guardian?"

"I never learned his true name. I was more of a martial arts student to him than a daughter. He never acted like a father," Mikomi said.

"So you are skilled in the martial arts, eh?"

"Yes," Mikomi said, coldly.

"Maybe if Prince Zuko taught you firebending you could teach him martial arts," Iroh said smiling.

At that moment Prince Zuko snorted as he was drinking. He looked up quickly and said, "Uncle, I will not teach a prisoner to firebend!"

"It would be a fair trade wouldn't it Prince Zuko, both of you would become much better fighters. A skilled martial artist could easily defeat the most skilled firebender," Iroh said, smiling knowingly.

"How?" Zuko asked impatiently.

"Martial artists are much faster than firebenders," he looked at Mikomi for a second and said, "Particularly female martial artists, because women are more agile."

Mikomi smirked tauntingly at Zuko.

"I could defeat her easily," he said, poking his thumb in her direction.

"Oh, could you little prince? Why don't we just see if you are correct? How about we spar?" Mikomi said.

Prince Zuko stood up, making his chair fall back, his fists now flaming.

"Fine! Meet me on the deck in half an hour!"

Zuko strode away, still fuming. Mikomi smirked after him.

"You know, old man, you're exactly right. Firebenders are easy for me to defeat. They're much too slow."

After saying this Mikomi stood up and exited the mess hall.

"This should be a good fight," Iroh said to a soldier next to him.

* * *

It was around noon and the sun was blotted out by an overcast of gray clouds over the deck. Mikomi sat on the railing of the ship watching Prince Zuko, who stood on the opposite side of the deck staring out at the sea.

Some soldiers stood on the sidelines of the battle arena, because word had gotten around about the fight. Everyone knew it would be a good fight, because this girl had avoided multiple firebenders for the past 3 years and would be fighting the firebending Prince.

Iroh strode out to the middle of the battle area. Once Mikomi had seen him do this she got off the railing and walked toward him. Zuko turned as soon as he heard her footsteps on the metal surface of the deck.

She looked at him and stared into his eyes. They looked like molten gold. She knew he was trying to figure out how she felt, but with all of her years of training, her emotions never showed.

Zuko was staring deep into her eyes. He had once been told that the eyes were the windows to the soul. But, Zuko saw nothing. Her eyes were emotionless, except for one emotion that seemed never to leave her eyes: pain. The girl always looked sad. He had not once seen her smile out of joy. He guessed that joy was an emotion she rarely felt.

The two met Iroh at the same time, both never breaking their gaze from each other. Zuko was shirtless and wore his black, baggy training pants. Mikomi wore her normal outfit. The tight, black, sleeveless shirt and her baggy black pants. Her arms were adorned with the normal black wrapping and leather gloves.

Mikomi had to look up to still be able to continue staring into Zuko's eyes, while Zuko looked down at her.

"This is a mere spar, no killing each other. Got it?" Iroh asked the two teens.

Zuko nodded, never breaking his gaze on Mikomi.

"I won't try to, at least," Mikomi said, tauntingly.

Zuko was now glaring at her, his rage coming out.

_He angers so easily. A weakness that can easily be exploited._

Iroh sighed and said, "Shake hands."

Zuko put his hand out first, smirking down upon Mikomi. He obviously was either going to burn her hand or crush it.

Mikomi took it, and once her hand was within his, Zuko strengthened his grip, in hopes of crushing her hand. He smirked at her, but the smirk was wiped off of his face once he saw that she didn't even flinch and her facial expression hadn't even changed.

He let go, disappointed, as Iroh continued his directions.

"Go to your positions," he said looking at Prince Zuko, scoldingly.

Once the two were in position, Iroh lifted his arm.

"Are you two ready?"

Both nodded quickly and Iroh dropped his arm.

"Begin!"

The soldiers on the deck now all looked at the two fighters. Many were making bets; most of them that Prince Zuko would win.

Zuko began with his typical fury of fireballs. Mikomi just looked bored and sidestepped all of them. Prince Zuko charged Mikomi, who stood there watching. Prince Zuko created a fire sword and slashed upwards, sending an arc of flame at Mikomi, who jumped over top of it. She had jumped incredibly high, heading in Zuko's direction. She landed one foot on his shoulder and pushed off, sending Zuko in the opposite direction. Zuko spun around and saw Mikomi, standing there smirking.

He growled under his breath and said, "Are you too afraid to attack!"

Mikomi, still smirking, said, "No, it's just fun to let you tire yourself out. But if you really want me to attack that badly, I guess I will."

Mikomi bent low and ran toward Prince Zuko, who awaited her attack. She was running incredibly fast, almost too fast to see. As Mikomi neared him, she clenched her hands into fists. Pulling her fists back as though to punch Zuko, quickly bent onto one knee and kicked Zuko's feet out from under him.

Zuko was not even expecting this; he was expecting her to punch at him. Mikomi stood back up and jumped into the air and spun around and upside down, heading down upon Zuko. Quickly, Zuko rolled to the side as her feet came down, with a loud, resonating bang, on the spot where his stomach just was.

Zuko's back was now to the railing, as he was getting up Mikomi ran up to him and fired her fists at him. Caught entirely off guard, Zuko backed up as Mikomi's fists landed in his stomach rapidly. She stopped suddenly and dashed toward him. She dove out landing on her hands, springing herself toward Zuko. Her feet landed on his chest, knocking him backward and taking his breath away. His back hit the railing hard. He let his head hang down as he clenched his chest, trying to regain his breath.

Mikomi walked up to him and held a hand down toward him. He looked up, confused.

"I don't attack someone while they're down, so get up," she said forcefully. Instead of grabbing her hand, he kicked her feet out from under her, standing up. Before she could even hit the deck, Zuko grabbed her wrist, holding her off the ground and thrusted his knee into her stomach, making her gasp for breath. Zuko smirked at the girl he still held off the ground.

Before he could even move, Mikomi had her legs pulled together on his neck, stopping him from breathing. He let go of her hand. Once she was free she let go of his neck and landed on her hands in front of Zuko. In her handstand, she pulled her knees to her chest and pushed off the ground, extending her legs and kicking him in the chin. Zuko, stumbled back, as his vision blurred a bit, but then focused again.

Mikomi landed gracefully awaiting Zuko's next attack. After becoming tired of waiting, she charged this time. But Zuko made fire explode from his feet and it headed right towards her feet, making her jump up in the air, now flying toward Zuko. Instead of waiting for her to land, Zuko punched her in the stomach right before she landed.

Mikomi gasped loudly and cringed. Stumbling backward, as she held her stomach, quivering with pain. Zuko took advantage of the moment and pressed attack on her, punching and kicking her all over her body. Mikomi fell to the ground, her eyes closed. Iroh noticed this and was preparing to walk out to end the fight, but Mikomi's eyes opened suddenly. Her face was contorted with extreme rage.

When she opened her eyes, Zuko noticed something different right away. Her eyes were golden, just like his. But they had changed from blue to gold so quickly; what happened to her?

Mikomi stood up shaking with rage. She let out a scream of anger as flame jumped to life around her body. Now her eyes almost looked like they were glowing. Unexpectedly she disappeared. Zuko looked all around him, but saw no trace of her. Then she reappeared quickly right in front of him, with the flame still engulfing her body. She spun and kicked him in the stomach, the flames burning him as well. The force of the kick seemed increased by the flame, because it send him back flying much more than her previous attacks.

He landed with his heading banging slightly on the metal, but enough to make his vision blur again. Mikomi was now standing over him, the flame still dancing around her body.

Iroh saw what was occurring. Afraid that his nephew might be murdered, he ran out as fast as he could and stood between the fire-engulfed girl and Zuko.

"The battle is over, you have won!" Iroh shouted at the girl, who was breathing heavily from her rage.

It was as though she had come out of a trance, her eyes widened and shock, but the flames did not die. She fell to her knees, her hands clasping each side of her head.

"Control it. Control it. Control it!" she repeated, trying to stop the flame.

The flames slowly diminished in size. Mikomi stood again and looked at Zuko who was staring at her with a shocked expression. She turned and ran inside, ashamed for losing her grip.


	6. Chapter 6

I sat on my bed massaging my abdomen as I pondered over the previous events, while trapped in my iron chamber. As always, I had lost control. Losing was my greatest enemy, so it was no wonder I had resorted to my primitive instinct of destroying the one who could've caused me to fail.

Right now, I wished I had the normal herbs I carry with me. As a ninja, one learns to heal as well as destroy, not only that, I was a weapons master and like the Yuu Yan Archers, could pin a fly from one hundred meters away without killing it. My guardian and teacher made sure that I was an expert by the time I had left. But now more than ever, I needed a firebending teacher. To protect my friends and possibly innocent lives, I couldn't afford relying on my primitive instincts, which was always deadly in my case.

Pulling my tight black top up to reveal my abdomen, I rolled it so it would stay in place. Looking at it, I ripped the bandages off. Weakness would be unknown to me from now on. I would fight it and turn a new leaf. The past was gone, this was a new life. No more wallowing in self pity over events that already occurred and can never be changed. I may have never known her family, but I had a new one now. A new one with a boy who was destined to save the world, I swore to protect him with my life. Lowering my top again, I meditated. Anger would no longer take me. If I couldn't even control my own emotions then I was weak. As I meditated with my rose red lips pressed taught against each other, my blue eyes surrounded by black eyeliner and mascara stared straight in front of me as I concentrated firmly on renewing myself.

The sparring match with the selfish prince played over in my mind over and over. Blowing my bang to the side, I felt my face contort into an expression of disgust at myself. Even though it was Zuko who I had lost my temper in front of, I felt guilt and no matter how hard I tried to conceal it, it always poked its ugly head through. My stomach throbbed as the bruise seemed to grow worse by the day. No more grimaces, no more wincing, I'm a ninja. A ninja doesn't show pain. This was one of the rules my guardian had taught me. The cruel and harsh teacher of mine always reprimanded me for showing too many feelings. He made me hard and cold. No one can make me who I am, I told myself. I am not some clay for people to shape as they please. I shape my own destiny. Bowing my head, I closed my eyes and pondered some more over turning a new leaf. I could do it. I would do it.

My thoughts were disturbed when the injured prince walked into my room. There sat a bag of ice pressed to his head. Looking up, I saw in his golden eyes with that typical anger that never seemed to leave them.

"Do you need the doctor?" he asked me harshly. I could still feel the seething fury in his tone.

I shook my head in defiance. Stubbornly, I wished to heal on my own. If not that, I would ask for some herbs to make my own medicines. I, Mikomi, was an independent woman. More importantly, I was an independent ninja, who swore to protect the Avatar.

Zuko glared daggers into my hard blue eyes. "Show me your abdomen."

Deciding it was best to follow his orders for now, I lifted my top with one hand as I leaned on the bed with the other. His eyes fell on the bluish-green bruise spreading even further over the surface of my pale skin.

"I'm getting the doctor," he said through clenched teeth.

I now leaned on both hands as my top still remained up, revealing my abs. "Don't bother the poor doctor. I think he's had enough of me."

"I don't care," he replied stubbornly as his golden eyes still flickered on my bruised stomach.

Standing slowly as I brushed my black ponytail away, I replied, "Just give me some herbs and I can make better medicines than even him."

"I doubt it," he said, trying to belittle me with his tone. I'm not so easy to break down. As a firebender, I was as stubborn as he was, despite my lack of control.

"As a ninja, I learned to heal as well as destroy," I said, repeating my exact thoughts.

Zuko stared at me for a second then with his free hand that wasn't pressing ice against his head, motioned for me to follow him. I walked behind him and noticed my eyes didn't even come to his shoulders. No wonder he though I was younger.

I hated the following phrase I was about to use and, I'll admit, I have a hard time forcing it out of my mouth, but it was part of changing myself, so my tongue shoved it out between my teeth.

"Zuko…" I said, hesitantly as my eyes lowered themselves to the floor.

He turned around with a bored expression on his face. I looked into his golden eyes and said, "I-I…I'm sorry." Yes, I stuttered, but at least I said it, right? It still counted.

His eyes seemed to have an interested look in them, but he turned without responding and continued to the on-ship infirmary.

Once there, I looked at my surroundings. There were multiple cabinets with many different herbs, which was good. On the right side of the room sat a patient's bed, so I instructed Zuko to take a seat on it.

"Who do you think you are giving me orders?" he growled dangerously as he stared down into my blue eyes.

I took a step closer to him and poked a finger into his chest, with a lazy expression gracing my eyes. "I'm going to play doctor as my…" I choked at the next word. "…apology. So sit."

Zuko glared at me for a second and brushed my hand away from his armored chest. Then, he surrendered and sat on the bed, while I rummaged through the cupboards. Finding all of the correct herbs quickly, I pulled out a bowl and began mashing them as their juice squirted out of them.

I was startled when Zuko began talking behind me, "So as a martial artist, do you have any advice for me?"

I said without turning in a monochromatic tone, "Loosen up, kid."

A huffing sound came behind me as he sighed in disappointment. "Is that it?" he asked, holding the ice to the lump on his head. This time I turned and brushed a black bang away from my face, while my other hand held the bowl.

Indifferently, I said, "Trust me. Even as a firebender loosening up and letting go of things helps, I may not know how to control fire, but I know the basic stances for bending it."

"You weren't holding back were you?" he asked me suddenly.

I mashed the plants in the bowl harder.

"I didn't show you everything I can do," I replied hesitantly. Caution filled my voice, because I knew he'd react badly when I told him I had held back.

The prince growled and glared at me. "What else can you do?"

Looking into the bowl, I saw my reflection in the juices of the plants. I frowned and answered, "I didn't move as fast as I could have." Pausing, I added, "I'm a weapons specialist and I am a highly skilled acrobat."

Zuko rolled his eyes when he learned all of this. I plucked the leftover plant debris out of the mixture I was making and continued mixing various ingredients to add to the soothing nature. Turning, I grabbed a washcloth and approached Zuko. I sat the cloth on my wrist with the hand holding the bowl and grabbed his forearm, moving away the ice from his head.

I grimaced at it. The lump was rather large and the same color as my abdomen.

"Wow, you're lucky you have me here, or you'd have another head," I said, smirking cruelly as the Prince glared. Slowly letting the cloth slide into the bowl, I swished it around, letting it absorb my potion.

Picking it up and wringing it, I asked Zuko to bend over for me so I could actually reach his head. The bed was fairly high. Gently, I dabbed the lump as he hissed.

"Don't worry, it will begin feeling cool after awhile," I said, trying to keep him from roasting me alive. I sat the bowl on the cold, iron floor. With both hands, I gently massaged the lump on his head.

"Why are you doing this?" he questioned.

I couldn't avoid telling him the truth so I said, "Honestly, I felt really bad, which I scolded myself for. My guardian punished me for having emotions."

Zuko's golden eyes turned to my blue ones with interest and questioned why he would punish me for revealing feelings.

Then I replied as I frowned, "According to him, ninja don't have emotions."

The prince winced underneath my touch although I was being as gentle as I could.

"But, I'm trying to change that," I said, hesitantly.

"Why?"

I looked at him for a second then said, "Because, I don't want to be the unfeeling person I am now. I don't want to be what that man made me."

Zuko pondered and then said, "Well, you must feel something, because otherwise you wouldn't be standing here trying to heal me."

I stopped massaging for a second and looked into his golden eyes. He was right. I did feel guilt and sympathy. That was a start.

Nodding, I said, "I want to be able to show emotion on my face too. My voice is almost always monochromatic and I always have a bored expression on my face. Even worse…"

I lowered my eyes in shame as I frowned, while he demanded what was worse.

Removing the cloth from his head and dropping it in the bowl, I jumped up on the bed next to sit next to him.

Staring at the cupboards in front of me, I said, "I used to be a murderer. As a weapon specialist you were taught to kill, not simply injure, but kill."

He turned his head and looked at me through his unscarred eye with interest.

"But ever since I joined the Avatar, he forbade me to kill," I said. "I'm glad he did that. I was turning into a monster, because even when I did kill someone, I felt absolutely no remorse, sometimes I even felt excited."

Zuko was obviously surprised at my revelation. I guess he wouldn't ever really think that I was capable of being a cold-blooded killer. Grabbing the bowl I set on the bed, I rolled up my shirt and began massaging my abdomen. I was surprised when the prince grabbed my wrist.

"Let me," he said, sliding off the bed. "Lay down."

I followed his orders, but I was surprised he offered to do it. I told myself, this is what happens when you do good things, good things come back to you. Although, the idea of him touching my bare abdomen didn't seem all that appealing, as he picked up the cloth and began massaging the bruise as I lay wincing and cringing. Shockingly, his touch was very gentle for a bad-tempered firebender. Closing my eyes, I focused on the gentle, repetitive motions of his hands and found my eyes drooping involuntarily. I fell to sleep laying there and apparently he carried me to my bed, because that's where I woke.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day, I woke to someone yelling outside of my room. Zuko apparently was barking orders around his ship. Rubbing my eyes, I sat up and tamed my black ponytail. Traveling with the Avatar, I learned that I wasn't much of a morning person. The three normally avoided me in the morning because I was so irritable and ready to snap.

I decided to give the annoying prince a piece of my mind, so I pulled one of my senbon needles out of my ponytail. My senbon needles basically resembled toothpicks except longer and made of metal. They were located in various spots all over my body. Luckily, there was a keyhole on my side of the door, so I picked at the lock with my needle. The shouting persisted except it was directed as someone named Uncle. Opening the door, I gave Zuko a look that would make the strongest warrior go crying home to their mommy. Looking to his skull, I saw that there was only a discolored spot left with no bump.

Zuko looked down at me and jumped back a little as I opened my mouth to yell at him.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP! I WAS SLEEPING!" I roared. No one should interrupt my sleep. Bad things happen when people interrupt my sleep.

Zuko took a step closer to me and bent over me pointing a finger at me. He said, "You have no right to order me to do anything! You are on _my_ ship! LEARN SOME RESPECT!"

I growled dangerously as I felt my eyes turn to the golden color of a firebender and took a step even closer, placing an accusing finger on his chest. "I don't give my respect to people who don't deserve it!" I yelled. He grabbed my wrist with a strong grasp and glared down at me. I felt my bones weakening underneath his grasp as I grunted in pain. The senbon needle was still in my hand and there was his neck, perfectly exposed and just asking me to stab his vital point in the neck. When I was still learning to be a ninja, I had to study the human body, its weaknesses, and its vital killing points. I learned ways to paralyze the body with one single stab and to stop a person's bending with a poke of my fingers. In pain, I lifted the senbon needle next to the vital point in his neck.

"Let go of my wrist or you will die," I said dangerously.

Zuko laughed asking, "You can't kill me with that little toothpick."

Iroh walked up behind Zuko and put a hand on his shoulder. Zuko turned and looked as his Uncle who said, "Zuko she can indeed kill you with that weapon. It's called a senbon needle and she's aiming it directly at the vital point in your neck." The Prince's eyes widened in fear as he released my wrist while I withdrew the needle into my hair so I could rub my sore wrist. I felt my eyes return to their normal blue color as I calmed myself. Zuko's gaze never left me as I tried to comfort the pain shooting through my black bandaged forearm.

"It seems you were trained very well, Mikomi," Iroh said to me, smiling. "Do you know the location of every vital point in the body?"

Looking to the old man, I nodded and said, "I was trained by Sumiyaka Ryoku."

Iroh's mouth dropped open in astonishment. I assume he was surprised that I was trained by the most infamous ninja ever to live, meaning that I was destined to follow in his footsteps since I was the only pupil he ever had. He smiled and said, "You must have been holding back when you fought my nephew."

"Slightly," I said. "I'm a weapons master and an acrobat. I figured if I beat him too badly he might throw a temper tantrum." My voice was monochromatic as I said all of this, while the Prince in question glared at me. He was probably upset that I held back on him.

"Well, now that you're awake how about some breakfast?" Iroh said, happily. The old man was a really happy kind of guy. His level of energy scared me.

Zuko huffed angrily as he stalked down the hallway. Iroh motioned for me to follow him so I complied.

When I walked into the mess hall, what seemed like one hundred ravenous, male eyes laid on me. Zuko looked around and saw them all staring. He recognized that look of want and hunger in the eyes of his men. Overall his crew was normally very good natured, but they probably hadn't seen a woman in months. Looking down at me who walked next to him, he knew that the men had their sights set on using me now.

I was surprised when I felt something slithering around my back and waist. Zuko had his arm around my waist and he pulled me into his side. His pale hand lay gently on my waist as it moved lightly up and down. I looked up at him, as my hand lay pushing on his side, as I tried to escape.

Whispering from the corner of his mouth, he said, "Don't. If the men think you're mine, they won't bother you."

I stopped fighting and let my arms droop at my sides with Zuko's hand moving on my waist. He's lucky that I would rather have these guys think I'm Zuko's possession rather than being used by one of them.

I looked around and saw that a lot of the men were wearing frowns now, while some looked somewhat disheartened. Sighing quietly, I was so relieved although uncomfortable being shoved into Zuko's side.

Arriving at our table, Zuko and I sat beside each other on the bench, while Iroh sat across from us. I was sitting next to a tall soldier who stared at me the moment I sat down. Nudging Zuko with my elbow, I tilted my head in the soldier's direction. Zuko, although somewhat slouched, could see over my head. I saw that he realized why I nudged him in the first place and wrapped an arm around my waist, scooting me into his side again. Looking up, I saw Zuko throw a dangerous glare in the direction of the soldier, who lowered his head to his food.

His hand was sliding lower and lower, finally reaching the top of my pants where he slipped three fingers under my top, letting the fingers glide across my skin. I shivered at this touch. I was grateful for his protection, but isn't this a little much? I couldn't resist, because the soldiers might get suspicious. I knew he felt me tense, because he looked down at me. His fingers stopped for a moment, and then he smiled at me as his fingers began gliding closer and closer to the middle of the top of my pants. Zuko was doing this on purpose to drive me insane. I knew it from the look in his eyes. That look laughed at my helpless situation and knew I couldn't do anything about it. Luckily, Iroh couldn't see what was going on with Zuko's dirty hands because he was on the opposite side of the table.

Indeed, Mikomi was flustered by this contact with Zuko, while the Prince himself rather enjoyed her soft skin. He did it to annoy the girl on purpose, but found that it was something he could get used to. After all, he was a man too and he hadn't been in the company of many women in the past months either.

The three of us began eating without much being said. Zuko ate with one hand while his other still danced across my pale skin. I was becoming extremely angry as I chomped down on my food as I shoved it between my crimson lips. Looking at my red nails, I remembered how long and sharp they were. They were always cut to a point, making them extremely sharp and cat like. I could just slice Zuko's naughty hand and be done with it. Looking around without moving my head, I saw that many of the sailors were looking at us, just staring. Now, I realized it probably wouldn't be wise to lay any sort of attack on Zuko no matter how small. I had killed with these blood red nails before and would love to do it again right now, but I reasoned it wouldn't be logical. Staring down at my hand, I took note of how...spider-ish they looked. My fingers were long and very slender, giving them their graceful appearance.

About midway through our meal, I felt Zuko's hand leave my waist as I sighed in relief. Until I felt something tugging on my ponytail, I looked to Zuko and saw him twirling my black hair around his finger.

His fingers were in my hair. His disgusting Fire Nation royalty fingers were playing with my clean, shiny, black hair. I growled under my breath. When Zuko heard this he tugged on a strand of my hair, signaling me to be silent. My teeth chomped roughly on my food as I attempted to control my rage.

Finally, the torturous meal was over. Zuko stood first and then I followed his example. Before walking out, he wrapped a protective arm around my waist pulling me close. The entire way I fumed and clenched my teeth as my jaw locked in anger. We walked through the corridors still close together, but we went a different way. Opening the door, Zuko revealed a room with a large bed that had red silk blankets. An ornate desk made of mahogany with golden details sat by a window with a matching armoire sitting close to it. I realized it was Zuko's room...I panicked.

I pushed against Zuko with all of my might to no avail, but then he rolled his eyes as his arm released me. Looking to Zuko, I asked, "Why am I here?"

Folding his arms across his armored chest, he answered, "Because, there are some men on this ship who have keys to almost anything, including your room. None of them have keys to my room."

Looking around the room again, I realized there was only one bed and no couch. No. No, no, no, no.

"I have to stay here!" I exclaimed. This had to be some sort of joke.

"Unless you'd enjoy being raped by a sailor, then yes," he said, smirking.

I looked at him scathingly and huffed angrily. Sitting in the chair in front of his desk, I leaned back and put my feet on his desk, crossing my ankles over each other as my ponytail hung behind the chair. Ah, infuriating people is so much fun. I should have a black belt in it by now. Zuko was obviously infuriated, so he marched over to me and grabbed my ankles with one hand, lifting me into the air beside the chair I just sat in. My black ponytail brushed the ground as I hung upside down, while my bangs tried to do the same.

Deciding to take advantage of it, I started working my abdomen by pulling my body up and touching Zuko's hand. He rolled his eyes and, walking over to the bed, dropped me on its red satiny covers.

Sitting up, I saw him staring at me for what seemed like a long time. "What?" I asked finally. He shook his head and mumbled something under his breath.

Walking to the door, he said to me, "Stay here, do whatever, just don't damage any of my furniture."

Sighing, I blew a bang out of my face as he slammed the door shut. Seriously, I was beginning to wonder if I was even supposed to act as "bait." I think I was more of a consolation prize since there was a rather large bounty on my head. I used to be a bounty hunter for the Earth Kingdom, at least that's what I was when I met Aang. Now bounty hunters would give anything to be able to hand my head over to the Fire Lord. I guess Zuko considers me a bonus of some sort.

Well, all I could really do is search the room. Opening the armoire, I found a ton of armory and other nonsense. There was some black sort of pajama like clothing in a drawer in the armoire. I pulled them out as I realized I hadn't washed this set of clothes in awhile and my other set was in my bag, wherever that was. Looking around the room, I noticed a door I hadn't seen when I first entered. Cracking the door open, light poured in to reveal a complete bath. The happiness overwhelmed me to know that I would finally be clean instead of being revolted by my own stench. It was surprising to me that Zuko didn't have to hold his breath when he was in such a close proximity of me, which made me shudder. I had a large personal bubble, which I was protective of. Normally, the person who invaded my bubble would be seriously injured. No one invades a ninja/firebender/woman's bubble. Bad things happen.

Starting the water, I watched the steam rise from the surface of the water as I stripped off all of my clothing and unwrapped the black bandaging around my forearms. My hair tumbled down my back as I released it from its ponytail. I dipped a toe into the warm bath, and, immediately, my body relaxed. It felt amazing as I slid gently into its caressing heat. I whole heartedly loved warmth. Aang, Katara, and Sokka always wondered how I was able to stand the heat of certain locations while wearing all black. Laying my head back on the edge of the bath, I thought it was simply because I was a firebender. There's always a fire going inside of us, so we are accustomed to heat. It was colder temperatures that made a firebender uncomfortable.

I got out of the bath after becoming sufficiently prune-like. The pajamas of Zuko's were…rather large. The top had long sleeves and passed my hands easily. The set was black with some gold trimming on the edge of the sleeves and bottom of the pants. I could barely walk without tripping because the pants were so long. The hem of the shirt ended at my mid thigh. It was hard to believe that I was really that much smaller than him. Wearing these clothes, I looked like a little kid with the sleeves passing my hands and everything. We were the same age after all. At least, I think we were.

Opening the heavy, metal door, I saw that the colors in the room had changed. The sun made the room almost glow in the light of the setting sun. I laid my dirty clothes on the chair before jumping on the bed and landing in its softness. In the middle of the bed, I was trapped by its comfort. The softness caught me off guard as my eyelids became heavy and began drooping. Darkness surrounded me as I drifted quickly into sleep.

Zuko's POV

I walked into the room after training for awhile. It had been a rather hot day and it was becoming dark in my room. A lone candle was lit on the opposite side of the bed. Looking to my bed, I saw the girl lying in the middle of it with her hair splayed out over its satin covers. I began taking off my armor while looking over to her periodically. With nothing but my pants on, I walked to her side of the bed and leaned on it with my hands. She was wearing a set of my old pajamas which were entirely too big for her. The collar of the shirt was too big, revealing her pale collarbone. Red lips were slightly parted as breath went in and out of her small body with a steady beat. The position she was in was reminiscent of a cat. She was curled up tight and I saw that she was holding onto the insides of the sleeves because they were gathered where her hands were. Slowly, I ran a finger through her long black hair. The girl stirred a bit, but she only sighed and smiled in her sleep, which caused me to crack a small smile.

She was indeed a pretty girl. I wanted to see her blue eyes, but I didn't want to wake her. This girl was much different than other girls. Although she could be very short tempered, I just sensed that deep down she was a very good person. I knew she was smart, talented, and beautiful, but something told me she had a good heart too.

I needed to pull the covers down, so I gently scooped her in one arm, her head resting on my bicep like a baby would be cradled. She was really small for her age, as I looked at her resting on my arm. I was pulling the covers down when I saw her eyes open slightly. There they were. Those beautiful blue eyes stared into mine. It was so strange for a firebender to have blue eyes, which is something I liked about her. She was a rare breed.

Mikomi's POV

The next I knew, someone was moving me. I was drifting between awake and asleep as I pried my eyelids open. After my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw Zuko looking at something down and in front of him. Apparently, he was able to almost cradle me in one arm while the other pulled down the blankets of the bed. My eyes opened fully as I saw that there was a lone candle lit on the other side of the bed. He saw me open my eyes and looked into them, but returned to preparing the bed. Gently, he lay me down on the bed almost tenderly, which seemed extremely bizarre to me. There it was again. That insanely comfortable softness caught me again. Although, this time I moved as close to the edge as I could without falling, not wanting to be even remotely close to Zuko while I slept.

I felt a pressure on the bed as Zuko eased down into its softness. My back was to him as he extinguished the candle. Making sure I remained awake, I wanted to make sure he didn't scoot any closer. I heard his gentle breath behind me as he slept. I sighed quietly in relief, until I felt his hands grab my waist again. Breath rushed through my mouth as I began panicking. Then I felt him pull me toward him as I tried to hold on to the edge of the bed with my leg and sleeve covered hand. But I couldn't hold on because he began pulling harder. I felt myself sliding as I held my breath. Then I really freaked out when I felt his bare chest on my back. A hand touched my forehead as I actually tried to bite it like a vicious cat, but I couldn't. That hand pushed my head back into his pecs as he lowered his head so his chin was on top of my head. He wrapped his arms tightly around me, right under my breasts. I couldn't believe this. This stupid Prince completely violated my personal space. I felt his heartbeat in my back and his abs too.

If only I didn't hate his guts, maybe this would've felt better. Oh how I could've killed him so easily at this point made me angry. Although I was in my pajamas, there were still senbon all over me. I could kill him so easily, but there was my underlying goodness poking through again. I couldn't kill him. Sighing, I wriggled a little as his grip seemed to weaken. Breaking free finally, I got off the bed, grabbing the pillow with my black hair down around me. I turned my blue eyes to look at Zuko's sleeping form. He was very well defined physically. Maybe someday, when he was as well defined mentally and emotionally, I could learn to like him, but not at that moment. It wasn't time.

Walking over to the corner, I turned my back on him and curled up with the pillow under my head. I've slept in more uncomfortable situations so I could do it now. I curled up like a cat to keep warm in these baggy clothes.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning I awoke to someone shoving me in the back. Opening my eyes, I turned my head and saw a fully armored Zuko glaring down at me with the sun illuminating his outline from behind.

"What?" I asked groggily. I decided it wouldn't be too wise to unleash any anger on him now.

"Why did you sleep on the floor?" he asked in an irritated tone.

Sitting up, I wiped my eyes through the long sleeves of his pajamas. Squinting my eyes, I looked up at him as he stood over me.

"Uh…I didn't want to invade your bed," I said making up something. Truthfully, I didn't really care if I invaded it.

"That's not true," Zuko said catching my bluff.

Sighing, I said, "Fine. The truth is you invaded my personal space, so I got away and slept down here. I think you were asleep when you did it."

"Did what?" Zuko asked. I think he knew what I was talking about though.

"You pulled me into you and wrapped your arms around me," I replied.

"You know, I was awake when I did that," Zuko said. "But then you had to go and move, so I just let you."

She stared at him quizzically. He had done it on purpose? That jerk.

"Why did you do that?" I half shouted jumping to my feet.

Still looking down, he said, "Because I wanted to."

I growled and clenched my fists while my eyes turned to their fierce golden color. I ordered, "Never do it again! I contemplated killing you in your sleep because of it!"

"Why didn't you?" he asked smirking.

Glaring daggers, I replied, "Because it's a part of changing myself. I don't want to kill unless completely necessary anymore."

"Well, just in case, give me any weapons you have with you now," he said, holding his hand out.

Sighing, I pulled senbon needles out of my hair and went to my clothing pulling them out of pockets, my shoes and anywhere else you could think of. Zuko looked like I was crazy, but it was simply a means of surprising the enemy. They didn't expect me to have over twenty senbon hidden all over me, not just in my holster.

I was about to bend down to grab my pillow when Zuko snatched my wrist. Turning back toward him, I lifted my other hand to pry his off of my wrist, which was covered by the sleeves of this shirt. Then his other hand snatched my free wrist, which he brought together with my other wrist so he could hold both of them together with one hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked him with a panicked tone. His golden eyes looked down into my blue ones as I looked up at him.

Zuko's free hand lifted and he cupped my cheek in that hand, his thumb stroking my cheek bone the entire time. I couldn't believe it. If he forced me to do anything I would kill him. Weapons only help, because I can kill without them. I turned my head away from his hand, but he grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at him.

"You know, Mikomi," Zuko near whispered to me. "That I want to enjoy your being here."

"Wow, Zuko, I didn't even know you were on such a lowly level," I hissed as I squirmed.

Glaring at me, he lowered his face closer to mine. Panicking, I tried to free my wrists but the more I moved them, the more pain I felt. Placing his hand on the back of my head, he kept my gaze on him as he lowered closer and closer. He released my other hand, but still had a grip on my chin. Placing my hands on his chest, I attempted to push away, but I've always been extremely weak physically, so I put one of my nails at the vital point in his neck again.

"I may not have my senbon, but I've taken drugs to make my nails hard as hard as steel, so I could still kill you," I said.

The arrogant Prince glared at me and released my chin. I backed against the wall and massaged my wrists and my face, while he stared at me.

"Don't ever touch me again," I hissed dangerously. "I may accidentally forget about changing myself and kill you."

Zuko's fists began glowing as smoke began spilling slowly from his mouth. Next thing I knew, he had a hand wrapped around my throat holding me off the ground and against the wall. I need to use both of my hands to hold on to his so I wouldn't die. I scratched at his hand again but he wouldn't budge and I couldn't focus. My eyes were at his eye level so he could stare into my blue orbs. Luckly, I had a strong abdomen so I flung my legs up to grab his throat between my ankles.

Finally, he dropped me as I gasped for air. He turned and stormed out of the room which was great for me. I finally got some peace.

After I had changed back into my cleaned clothes I heard a knock at the door. In walked Zuko's kind uncle wearing a warm smile and holding a warm cup of tea.

"Hello," he said warmly. I responded by sitting up on my bed and brushing away my black ponytail as I nodded.

"What was your name?" he asked, the grin never leaving his face. It was hard to believe that this guy was even related to Zuko. He was so calm and peaceful. The man handed me the cup of tea and sat down on the bed next to me before I could answer.

"Mikomi," I replied. The tea was very good. I had always loved tea because of its soothing qualities.

"So, Mikomi. I believe that if you were taught, you would be one of the best firebenders alive," he said suddenly. My eyes lifted from my tea and stared into his. Was this guy nuts? He could obviously see from my expression that I was confused.

"As a martial artist, you have a lot of control over your spiritual energy," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you could create lightning by the time we arrived at the North Pole."

After that was said, Iroh trained me in secret from that day on. I excelled beyond even his expectations. It still confused me as to why he would want to train a traitorous firebender, but I took his lessons with gratitude. He was correct in his assumptions about my skills. By the time we got to the North Pole, I could create lightning and redirect it even better than his niece Azula, as he told me and instead of the fire being red and orange, the fire I bended was blue. Zuko had made attempts to use my body, but my threats became worse as I became more skilled in the martial arts, training my mind and body daily. So I fought him off the entire time, which made him pretty sulky.

I had grown into more of a young woman as I noticed breasts beginning to protrude from my tight black top as it got tighter. I began wearing smoky, black eye shadow around my eyes and my high ponytail now reached my waist.

The waterbenders were surprised to see me arrive at the North Pole. I took out over twenty of the firebender's ships using lightning, as the waterbenders watched me in awe. As it was, lightning used up a decent amount of energy so I settled on being a one girl tempest and took care of the people in front of me. I didn't care what Aang said now. These people were in danger and I'm good at killing a lot of people in a small expanse of time. Using senbon needles, which are small and thin like toothpicks but longer and sharper, I hit a point in the neck that instantly kills a person. I can hit that point which is as big as the tip of my needle from one hundred meters away. The needles are hidden all over my body. In my hair, in my belt, on the holster strapped to my thigh and even in my shoes, so I drew them between my fingers and flung them at multiple Fire Nation soldiers at once, and watched them drop like flies, the waterbenders stared at me in what looked like fear, but they should've been glad I was on their side.

I moved so fast that the soldiers couldn't even see me and in within ten minutes I had taken out over fifty of them. The tanks on the other hand were difficult for me to handle, because I was a hand to hand and weapons specialist. I saw Katara waterbending better than I ever had. Rushing over to her, I said, "Take out the tanks for me and I'll deal with the soldiers for you."

She smiled and nodded, as soldiers surrounded us. I disappeared from their sight in a flash of speed stabbing a needle in their necks as I passed them. Within seconds, I had reappeared next to Katara who looked at me like she had never met me before.

"During war, this is how it must be done," I said. She took out the tanks with some waterbending, as Aang fought as well.

By the end, we were successful. Zhao was dead and we recovered Aang who was kidnapped by Zuko. I was now a master at firebending and Aang had a teacher, but first he needed to learn earthbending. As a team, we went on a journey again for a teacher for Aang after I was reunited with all of my equipment that was left behind after being kidnapped by Zuko. I hugged my spear for a long time as Sokka stared at me like I was a lunatic. On the way we met some annoying hippies that tried to tell me, it's not about the destination, but the journey. Their leader was a little slow on discovering that I was a firebender. After about 20 fireballs shot, he came to the conclusion that I was indeed a firebender. That's why I never associate with nomads. Most of them aren't the sharpest tools in the shed.


	9. Chapter 9

After awhile, we found a little, blind girl named Toph, but she wouldn't teach Aang at first, so we went to her house to convince the Blind Bandit to teach the Avatar to earthbend.

The four of us hid behind a bush, me with my spear in hand. I didn't like going anywhere without it, because now I could enhance its attacks with fire. Then I felt something, the ground was vibrating. Toph was about to attack so I disappeared as my three comrades were sent flying into the air. Sokka was the last to land and I appeared beside him leaning on my spear. The earthbender realized that I wasn't hit by her attack so she tried again, but I kept dodging.

"Another twinkle toes," she said to me.

I reappeared behind her and whispered in her ear. "I was taught under the infamous ninja Sumiyaka Ryoku and I'm a firebender." She tried to attack me again, but I disappeared.

Toph stopped attacking and looked directly at me, saying "You were taught by the greatest martial artist alive, Sumiyaka? But you're a firebender why are you traveling with the Avatar?"

"I'm the second most wanted person in the Fire Nation for being against the war and aiding the Avatar," I said. "Aang's going to need a firebending teacher someday, but first he needs an earthbending teacher."

From there on, we had to persuade Toph to join us, which she eventually did. We were on the run from Azula and her two companions for what seemed like forever. I wanted to roast the other two girls in the group alive because they bickered unendingly.

When we decided to face the three girls, Toph and I stood in the front. Pulling out three senbon needles held between my knuckles with my spear in my other hand behind my back. I flung them down upon the charging girls. The one with black buns pulled out a knife and blocked the one headed to her. Azula was hit right were I aimed and her arm started convulsing involuntarily. I struck a nerve that caused a large amount of pain through her entire arm. The same happened to the girl in pink, but it hit her leg and it started convulsing. Both victims who were hit stopped and tried to stop the convulsing but it wouldn't stop for at least another fifteen minutes. Toph turned to me and smiled, "Nice aim, twinkle toes."

I nodded in return with a small smile cracked on my lips. Sweeping my arm toward the uninjured girl, I bowed away motioning that it was Toph's turn. Toph stopped the other girl with some excellent earthbending. Looking to Toph, I smiled and said, "Time to go."

She nodded as I disappeared with my speed and reappeared sitting on Appa. Toph got up to Appa using her earthbending and we set off. The three girls were persistent in their chase and I was getting irritable from lack of sleep, while Katara and Toph continued their bickering. They were lucky I learned to control my rage or both of them would've been silenced or fried.

Eventually we formulated a plan to get out of our sticky situation. Aang took some of Appa's hair and created a false path, but that was after Toph was enraged and left us, after Sokka had attempted to stop her. I went with her, hoping that maybe I could convince her to calm down and return to us.

"Toph, we are all exhausted," I said to her as a rubbed my eyes while I leaned on my double-ended spear. "Believe me, if I hadn't recently learned to control my anger, Katara would've been fried long ago. We didn't get along in the beginning," I said, telling her the story of the early group. Toph listened to me as we walked on. The earthbender was only about three inches shorter than me.

"Katara and I are elemental opposites," I said. "My spirit is filled with the intensity and fury of fire, hers, with the serenity and tranquility of water."

"You don't seem like any angry person to me, twinkle toes," Toph responded, smiling. "You actually seem like the most rational person in the group."

I looked at her and said, "I didn't always used to be that way. Before, I couldn't control my firebending because I was raised in the Earth Kingdom. I don't remember my past very well, but I only got by on my skills in the martial arts. I was angered very easily and once killed many people because of it. At least fifteen people were killed by me that day."

Toph looked at me and said, "I didn't think you'd be the kind to kill anyone."

"I used to kill without hesitation," I said, frowning.

Toph was surprised by this. I could see it in her face.

"But then I swore to protect the Avatar with my life," I continued.

Suddenly, Toph lifted her hand to silence me. Then with some earthbending, revealed that someone was listening to us behind a bush. Out popped Iroh all alone. Toph and I ran over to him and helped him up.

"Iroh, what are you doing here by yourself?" I asked as I gathered some wood to make a fire.

"You know, just wandering around," he replied, smiling.

We all sat around the fire drinking tea, when I remembered my manners.

"Toph, this is Iroh of the Fire Nation, he was my firebending teacher. Iroh this is Toph, an earthbending master," I said, waving a hand to them when I introduced each person.

"My, my Mikomi. Your manners have improved greatly since I last met you," Iroh said. "Oh, and nice to meet you Toph."

"Nice to meet you too, Iroh," the earthbender replied after taking a sip of tea.

"Mikomi, your hair has grown so long!" Iroh said, commenting on my waist length, black ponytail. It was a high ponytail as usual, but still it reached down so far.

"Too long," I said. "I should probably cut it off soon."

"Why?" Iroh asked.

Toph interjected smartly and said, "It'll get in the way of being a twinkle toes."

I looked at Toph and rolled my eyes. "She calls me that all the time."

Iroh laughed heartily and said, "Well it is true."

Toph smiled victoriously at me as I smiled back at her. Then I remembered that the short tempered Prince normally traveled with his uncle so I asked, "Where's Zuko?"

Iroh frowned and said, "I'm not sure. I've been tracking him."

"Run off has he?" I asked. "That kid needs to get some sense and fast."

Looking at me, he said, "You should be the one training him to firebend better."

I choked on my tea and demanded why I would train him.

"He might actually listen to you," Iroh said.

Laughing, I said, "Doubt that. He needs to settle his inner turmoil before he even tries more advanced techniques. I had to do the same before I learned to channel lightning."

"That's why you need to teach him, because you've had to settle your inner self," he said. "He might respect a pretty girl more than his old uncle."

"I don't even think Zuko knows how to respect," I said. "Besides, I'm not about to teach someone who constantly tries to kidnap the boy I've sworn to protect."

Iroh frowned and nodded sadly. Apparently, he had actually believed that I might help them. He had his pouting face on. The face that got me to play so many Pai Chow games. I sighed and said, "If he would stop chasing the Avatar, maybe I would allow him to travel with us and help him train. He better know that I would be a harsh teacher though."

Iroh sighed and said, "I think it will be extremely hard to convince him." He looked sadly into my blue eyes, which were surrounded by smoky black eye shadow and long black lashes.

Folding my arms across my chest, I looked at my forearms wrapped in black bandaging. A thought occurred to me that had often done so in the past. "Why would Ozai send Zuko on a wild goose chase? Not many people actually believed that the Avatar was still alive. I think Ozai did it just to get rid of Zuko and you."

The Dragon of the West smiled at me and said, "You're a perceptive girl, Mikomi. Zuko should've made a move on you while you were on the ship. You're smart, pretty, graceful, cultured, elegant…"

"Ew," I said, with a disgusted expression on my face. Toph just laughed at the idea.

"Haha, you and the bad tempered Prince together!" Toph exclaimed after spraying her tea all over the fire. "Those would be some short tempered kids."

I looked at Toph in disgust as she laughed some more at my expression. She and Aang would be too perfect for each other.

"Anyway, you're right. Zuko doesn't want to believe it, although I think he knows it to be true," Iroh commented.

I stared the infamous general in the eyes and pondered. If the old man actually could convince him, I would probably end up helping them. That's how I became. I found it hard to say "no" anymore.

Sighing, I said, "Well, if you actually do convince him, tell him that he will be learning the martial arts first."

Iroh smiled and raised his cup of tea in gratitude toward me. Toph and I stood and bowed to Iroh, while I said, "Oh yea, also tell him to leave his arrogance and disrespect behind, because, as his teacher, I won't put up with his crap."

Smiling, Iroh stated, "I think you'll be a very good teacher for him to have."

I nodded and turned to Toph as we walked off together. Toph and I talked some more about the group, eventually I was able to convince Toph to remain with us. We found Aang fighting two firebenders, Azula and Zuko. The both of us interjected.

I stepped in front of Azula with my spear in hand, while my other hand rested on my hip. Luckily, I had grown taller and thinner, so now my eyes reached Zuko's neck at least. Azula and I were about the same height as she stared at me, smiling.

"Mikomi, traitor to the Fire Nation," she said, recognizing me, finally.

"Not as idiotic as I thought," I said, placing a thoughtful finger on my chin. The firebending Princess smirked evilly at me as she began charging me. She wasn't very fast, at least not compared to me. Compared to me, Azula was rather slow. With a bored look in my blue eyes, I reached to my senbon needle holster and grabbed four needles between my sharp-nailed fingers. Flinging one effortlessly, it hit her leg right where I wanted it to. She stopped as her leg shook violently. Growling, Azula pulled the needle out. The convulsing stopped, because it hadn't been embedded in the nerve long enough.

"Fight me without your silly weapons!" Azula yelled. Wow, bad tempered girl.

"Yeah," I said with a bored tone. "My weapons are so silly that one of these little needles could kill you instantly. With a flick of my wrist, I could be done with you."

She glared daggers at me as I sighed and placed the needle back in my holster on my thigh. I set my spear against the wall of a building. I took up my place where I had just stood and folded my arms across my chest, awaiting her attack. Again, she charged me flinging a blue fireball in my direction. Yawning, I disappeared and reappeared behind a stopped Azula, kneeing her back with all my might. Azula gasped and turned, flinging fireballs in the position where I just was. I wasn't there. I had already reappeared in front of her. My black ponytail blew behind me as I stared at Azula.

I could tell from the look in her eyes she was surprised. Smiling, she tried taunting me, "A firebender who can't even control fire? How pathetic."

Raising an eyebrow questioningly, I began moving my fingers around in the air, creating trails of glowing lightning. The cold blooded fire danced around my body. Then I shot my fingers out in her direction, sending the lightning crashing toward her. Luckily, Azula realized what I was doing before I had time to shoot because she had jumped to the side.

"I thought you didn't know how to firebend!" Azula shouted.

Picking my sharp, red nails, I sighed, "You are really loud and slow to catch on. If I can control lightning surely I must be able to control fire, Azula. Duh…" I finished that comment off with a mocking tone.

The Princess glared daggers at me as I stared at her indifferently. Rolling my eyes, I disappeared and reappeared right in front of her. She punched at me with blue fire but I blocked and returned it with a whirlwind blue flamed kick. Azula ducked under that attack and watched me with interest as I engulfed my hand in the flame and began punching at her with a bored expression. She dodged most of them but I landed one in her stomach sending her flying into the corner of two barrier walls intersecting. The others all surrounded her as I joined their ranks with my arms folded across my chest.

Azula faked surrender and suddenly shot at her Uncle. Iroh was hit hard and fell to the ground, giving time for Azula to escape. Zuko rushed to his side.

"Zuko, I can heal him," Katara said. The response to this was Zuko yelling at us to leave as he shot fire at us. I blocked it and appeared by his side with a senbon needle held at his vital point in his neck.

"Move," I said. The Fire Prince who, actually had hair now, looked at me angrily as he got up from his kneeling position. I had gotten taller so now he didn't completely loom over me as he glared down at me.

"Toph, can you bring my bag over here for me?" I asked the Blind Bandit. Using her earthbending, she brought the bag to my side. Tucking the needle back into my hair, I opened the bag and found the potion that disinfects and speeds the healing process. Using my teeth, I ripped off a piece of my black bandaging on my forearm and poured some of the potion on it. I opened Iroh's cloak and saw the charred skin that was there. Gently, I began rubbing the potion on it. Zuko watched with anger across his features. Putting all of my supplies away, I turned to Katara and waved her forward to help Iroh.

She opened her water skin and the water surrounded her hands. Katara lightly put her hands down on the burn and let the water run across the skin. I saw the wound begin glowing and for the most part it completely disappeared. Pulling another vial out, I held the opened potion in front of his nose so he could smell it. Immediately, his eyes fluttered open.

He saw me first and said, "Have I died? I think I see an angel." I rolled my eyes. The old man must have been some kind of ladies' man when he was younger. Holding out a helping hand, I pulled Iroh to his feet as he swayed a little bit.

"That was quite an attack. Thanks you two," Iroh said, smiling at Katara and me. I turned to Zuko who was still frowning. He stared at me for sometime, because he hadn't seen my period of growth. My ponytail was much like his once was. It was wrapped in black bandaging so it stood out on my head, but where my hair started was much thicker and longer than Zuko's.

Looking back to his uncle, I asked, "Did you talk to him about it?"

Iroh shook his head and turned to Zuko. "Did you see what Mikomi did today?"

This comment made the Prince frown even more and he mumbled, "Yes."

"She's a talented firebender who has made a gracious offer, Prince Zuko," Iroh said calmly to his nephew. "We talked and I believe that you would show some more respect to Mikomi as a teacher."

Zuko was shocked and yelled, "Uncle, why would I show respect to the likes of her!"

I rolled my eyes and looked down at Toph who stood next to me now. She looked back at me and said, "He's as stubborn as you are, twinkle toes."

Iroh cleared his throat and said, "Because she would be a very harsh teacher, which she has already assured me of. Besides, she told me that you would learn martial arts before anything else."

This interested Zuko mildly, I noticed. "I know how to firebend, Uncle," he yelled at his Uncle.

The Dragon of the West frowned at his nephew and said, "You need someone who's more than an excellent firebender. You need someone who has had to do something that you will need to do, settle inner turmoil. You need someone who is a good mental coach. You need Mikomi."

Sighing, Zuko gave in and said, "Fine, I'll study under her."

"But, Prince Zuko, she has some requirements from you," Iroh said. Zuko looked at me and I nodded.

"What would they happen to be?" he asked me smartly.

"First and foremost, you swear to me that you will not attempt to capture the Avatar," I said indifferently.

Prince Zuko was about to open his mouth and yell at me, but Iroh interrupted.

"Prince Zuko, remember the talk we had about the wild goose chase? Mikomi believes the same thing to be true. Coming from two intelligent firebenders should be enough proof of that fact for you," Iroh said.

I could see that Zuko wanted to learn badly as he said between clenched teeth, "Yes, I swear not to try and capture the Avatar."

I looked at him suspiciously. Zuko wanted to learn and when he wanted something he would stop at nothing to get whatever he wanted. I debated whether or not he would be true to his word.

"Good," I said and I was about to continue until a certain loudmouth interrupted.

"Mikomi, how do we know we can take his word for it?" Sokka asked loudly. "He's a firebender after all."

At this comment, I glared back at Sokka. "So am I you idiot."

"Well, you're different," Sokka added.

"I agree with Sokka," Katara said. "We don't know if we can trust his word."

Holding my hand up, I signaled for them to be silent as I stared at Zuko and smirked. "There is one thing that guarantees he won't break his word."

Zuko frowned as I said this, because I knew he wouldn't be able to escape this.

"Zuko _honors_ his word," I said, emphasizing the word that affects him the most. He actually did react to it, so I continued, "A firebender's honor is important to them. Trust me."

Katara and Sokka gave up their argument and backed away.

"Second requirement. You respect the rest of this group, because if you don't respect them, be assured that I don't mind if they attack you," I said, smirking as I folded my arms across my chest.

"Like they could do anything to me anyway," Zuko said, rolling his eyes.

I looked to Toph and smiled as she returned it. Zuko probably didn't see her as a threat because of her size.

"Zuko, I don't believe you've met the newest member of our group," I said still smirking in a knowing way. Waving my hand toward her, I said, "This is Toph."

Toph glared at Zuko who returned it. I felt the hatred between the two already.

"Believe it or not, but Toph could completely kick your ass," I said.

Zuko then turned his death glare at me and yelled, "I highly doubt that."

"Toph is blind," I said, making Zuko look at Toph with surprise. "She sees using her earthbending, by sensing the vibrations through the Earth."

Toph clenched her fists and interjected, saying roughly, "What are his skills like, Mikomi?" She only said my actual name when she was serious, so I smiled.

"Skilled with broadswords and a pretty good firebender," I said, placing a thoughtful finger on my chin. "Slower than me, but physically stronger. Anger issues."

The boy I described glared at me when I mentioned his problems controlling his rage. Toph placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled.

"If he's not as fast as you, I could totally handle this guy," she said tauntingly. "Plus, I'm good at making people mad."

"You are indeed, Toph," I said, laughing as I clapped her shoulder.

Zuko took a step toward Toph, but Iroh grabbed his shoulder. "Zuko, I've seen her skills. Mikomi wasn't kidding when she said she spoke of her mastery at bending earth."

Toph smiled and said, "You're that old man from earlier!" She had finally recognized him.

"Mikomi, can you speed this up?" I heard Aang ask from behind me. "We need to get going."

"Okay. Third requirement," I continued. "You will follow my every instruction to a tee."

Zuko nodded hesitantly. I could tell he was reluctant, because he wasn't good at following orders. Looking at him with an analyzing gaze I continued.

"That means everything," I said, sternly with my arms crossed over my chest. "I tell you to dance, you dance. I tell you to wash Toph's feet, you wash her feet. Got it?"

He growled at me and then said through clenched teeth as Toph giggled, "What would be the consequences of disobeying your orders?"

I smirked mischievously and said, "You might find your self killed while you sleep or maybe some poison slipped into your food. Maybe one day, you'd wake up to find us long gone, leaving you in the barren desert. I could get more and more creative as time goes by."

The arrogant Prince clenched his fists, which began shaking as I turned to Iroh and said, "You, General Iroh, must promise me that you will not interfere with any of my teaching methods whatsoever. I don't mind occasional tips when we start firebending, but we're starting with the martial arts."

Iroh nodded his approval and smiled at me.

"Alright, I will begin training you while Toph here begins training Aang," I said, indifferently.

Aang sighed and said, "Alright, alright let's go!"


	10. Chapter 10

Grabbing my bag and my spear, I moved so fast to Appa that no one could see me until I was motionless, sitting with my spear lying in front of me and my bag beside me. I sat Indian style waiting for the rest to board. Toph created some earth stairs for everyone to climb up.

After everyone was situated, Aang gave Appa a "Yip, Yip" and we were off. Zuko held on to Appa's saddle for his dear life as he looked through the sky in fear. I laughed and said, "Get used to it, Zuko. We pretty much live up here." I had my eyes closed in a relaxed position. Zuko sat next to me so he turned and glared at me.

"That's _Prince _Zuko, to you, peasant," Zuko hissed. I opened one eye, giving him a warning glare while my bangs blew in the wind.

Sitting up straighter, I ordered, "Give me fifty pushups, now." As I said this I patted Appa's back.

Zuko looked at me like I was nuts, but I held my blue eyed gaze firm into his golden eyes. Sokka looked back and sniggered making Zuko shoot a fireball at him. The water tribe warrior dodged it as he glared daggers at Zuko.

"Now I want 100," I said, firmly.

The Prince was about to protest, when his Uncle intervened and said, "Prince Zuko, you swore to follow her every order. I suggest you get to it."

He paused and looked at his uncle and then he turned to me. I liked him better with his hair, but that wasn't important now. He was my student and I had to teach him to the best of my ability.

Assuming the position, he mumbled something under his breath. I saw he was using two hands for the pushups and I said, "You use two hands? Well, we're going to have to break that habit."

Zuko kept growling angrily at me, but I didn't care. "Pay attention while you do them, Zuko."

Folding my arms across my chest, I looked at him firmly and used my drill sergeant voice as I said, "With this group, you are not a Prince. You are our firebending traveling companion. You are not superior to anyone in this group. Not even Momo."

Momo turned around and saw Zuko doing his pushups. He flew over and landed on his back, while Zuko clenched his teeth harder.

"From now on, you will refer to me as sensei or Mikomi-sensei, even ma'am will do, but never simply Mikomi and, worst of all, I never want to hear you refer to anyone as peasant again. Understood?" I asked roughly.

Aang, Katara, and Sokka gave me a worried look as if they feared Zuko would lash out on me at any second. I winked at the three of them and they smiled. The wink was to show them I knew what I was doing.

"Yes," Zuko said, leaving out my name on purpose. I could sense the heat rising from his infuriated body.

"I will teach you to respect those around you. Then _maybe_ you will deserve our respect, as of now, I don't believe there is a person in this group, other than General Iroh, who trusts you. You will earn their trust just like you will earn their respect, by showing them some," I said demandingly as I watched Zuko go up and down.

The General in question was smiling at me widely. I could tell that he thought my teaching methods were just what Zuko needed and maybe they were.

"By the end of my teachings, I won't be surprised if you hate my guts and would love to see me die at your hands," I said firmly as I brushed my ponytail back. "But I didn't allow you to travel with us for us to all become friends, so I could really care less what you think about me." As I said the last comment, I bent close to Zuko's face as he went up and down, hissing it at him.

I heard him growl deep in his throat as he finished his last pushup, sweat on his forehead. He panted and took up his place next to me. Looking to his face, I studied it carefully. Anger was spread all over his face.

"Stop showing so much emotion on your face," I said, looking at my nails. "People exploit revealed emotions. People like me." I smiled at the last comment as Zuko took a deep breath and calmed himself. He had actually hidden the emotion on his face even though I saw his fists clenched. "You might want to learn no to show any emotion on your body," I said looking to his fists. "Skilled fighters can see emotions very well, so don't show emotions like anger during battle."

I sighed, "But you did wipe the emotion off of your face very well. Hmm," I said moving to sit on my legs in front of him. "I wonder how well you can keep that up though under provocation."

Zuko didn't move and didn't show any emotion on his face as I turned to Katara. "Toss me your water skin."

She took it out and tossed it to me as I had ordered. Everyone was watching Zuko and me as I held the water skin in front of him.

"I won't provoke you now, in front of everyone, but I will when you least expect it, so you'd better be ready for it," I said, shoving the water skin into his chest. "Don't drink too much of it."

I assumed my former position next to him and sat in my meditation position. Toph nudged me in the side with her elbow and said, "I like your style of teaching, twinkle toes. I thought you'd be a softy teacher."

Laughing, I said, "No, Toph. I will keep getting harsher and harsher as time goes on."

Zuko rolled his eyes and frowned at this comment. I think he knew that I was telling the truth too. His training hadn't even officially begun, but I had already demanded push ups out of him. This guy had better be ready to be pushed beyond his limits.

Everyone heard Sokka still giggling as he said, "You got bossed around by a little five foot one girl."

"Shut your mouth!" Zuko shouted sitting up straighter next to me as I felt him heat up.

"Why don't you shut yours you pompous firebender?" Sokka yelled.

"Why you lowly watertribesman! How dare you talk to me like that, you insolent idiot!" Zuko retorted his eyes nearly glowing with the anger.

"You're no better than any of us, little Prince!" Sokka retorted with a mocking tone.

Zuko dove at Sokka while he did the same to Zuko. I appeared right in the middle of the two and held a hand on both of their chests as they tried to get at each other from over top of me.

Shoving both of them back with great force, I stood on Appa's back looking at the two of them at first indifferently.

Then I felt my eyes turn golden when I shouted at the both of them, "BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP UNLESS YOU'D LIKE TO BE ROASTED ALIVE!"

As I shouted this blue flames sparked around both hands. The two boys glared at me, but were silent after that. I sighed as I sat down after extinguishing the flames. Rubbing my temples, I mumbled incoherently to myself wondering what I had gotten myself into.

We had found a good spot for Aang to begin Earthbending, so we stopped for the night. Toph and I slept in her earthen building, while everyone else slept next to Appa. The two of us discussed how we would be teaching our pupils. The Blind Bandit assured me that I would like her teaching style as well.

The two of us woke first and walked over to our pupils who slept far apart from each other. Aang was already awake and waiting for his first lesson eagerly. Iroh, Katara, and Zuko still slept heavily. My student was right next to the rock wall. The other two were allowed to sleep for now, but my student wasn't. I frowned down at him with my arms crossed over my chest.

Still staring angrily at him, I said, "Toph, would you mind waking my student?"

She shook her head and thrust her heel into the ground, which made a column of earth rise and shoot Zuko into the air. This woke him sufficiently as he screamed on his descent toward the Earth. He landed on his stomach and looked at me angrily.

"Good morning, student," I said, smiling. "The torture begins today."

Zuko growled at me and wiggled out of his sleeping bag. I had my spear in one hand and my black bag in the other. He stood fully awake now and looked at me. Out of nowhere, his hand shot out at my throat and he whirled my body around to pin me on the rock wall. I gasped air in through clenched teeth as Zuko growled, "Stop treating me like someone so far below your level." My legs writhed beneath me searching for footing as I opened my mouth wide. Showing it, blue flames gathered at the back of my throat and shot out toward Zuko who dropped me and jumped back.

"I treat you as I see fit, because as of now you are far below my level," I said calmly. There was a crack in the Earth below me, so I stuck my hand into it causing fire to shoot out of it in a circle around Zuko and myself. The flames raised high as I looked at Zuko fiercely.

The insolent Prince charged at me, but I side stepped the attack and drew fire out of the fiery wall to shoot at him. He actually dodged it, but kept attacking as I kept side stepping every attack and dodging it. Zuko was becoming weary from his relentless, but useless barraging of attacks.

"Can't you see, Zuko? I'm toying with you," I said, lowering the flames around me. Now I yelled with the next comments. "I have far greater knowledge than you could possibly fathom. I've trained too many hours to have some snot nosed Prince disrespect my authority!"

Zuko just glared and huffed loudly, issuing smoke from his nostrils.

Motioning for him to follow, I walked toward the site where Aang was to begin his training with Toph.

"For now, we'll watch Toph and Aang," I said, without looking back at him. "Starting off, my training isn't all that bad, because we begin with scroll work. Intelligence is key in the martial arts. A fool would never be able to master them."

Zuko and I took a seat on the sidelines as Toph explained to Aang the stance of an earthbender. I saw the firebender's interest in Toph, so I decided to discuss her.

"Toph, is the greatest earthbender I have ever met," I said, staring at the girl as we sat watching. "She is very headstrong and spirited, just like an earthbender should be."

Zuko looked down at me and nodded, approving of my analysis. We watched as Aang tried to move a boulder, but ended up shooting himself backward into Appa.

The firebending Prince laughed and I punched his side firmly. He glared at me and rubbed the spot I had just hit as I said, "It's no laughing matter. This element will be the hardest for Aang to master, because it's his elemental opposite."

Then we watched as Toph jumped at a rock fiercely, completely smashing it. I turned to Zuko and saw his wide-eyed gaze on Toph.

"I don't exaggerate when I talk of someone I respect, Zuko," I said, still watching Toph intently. He nodded in return and finally saw why I respected Toph so much.

"Like I said earlier, Toph represents earth very well," I said indifferently with my arms folded across my chest and my bag on my back. "She's steady, powerful, and unfaltering."

Turning to look at Zuko, I said, "Fire is quick, destructive, but powerful all the same. Its nature is untamed, which makes it one of the hardest elements to master." Pausing, I pulled out a scroll from my bag and continued, "The martial arts are about intelligence, precision, and balance. Power comes from training these three assets, which I have done. I spent my life doing nothing but this, so don't dare question my knowledge without consequence."

The Prince realized how seriously I took this, finally. He nodded and said, "Yes, Mikomi…"

I glared at him and he added sensei to the end through clenched teeth.

I smiled and said, "Good. Now we begin your intelligence training." Unrolling the scroll, I set it on Zuko's lap as I moved to sit directly in front of him.

"As a ninja, you must know the anatomy of the human body by memory," I continued. The scroll had two bodies drawn in, a male and female. "A human body has many weak points that we ninja take advantage of. Especially ninja who lack in physical strength."

Zuko looked up at me and nodded his understanding, then stared at the scroll. On the scroll there were green points, blue points, and red points all over the bodies.

"The green points are called pressure points, Zuko," I said, pointing to one of the pressure points. I stood and ordered Zuko to do the same as he sat the scroll off to the side. "Give me your arm."

He held his arm up and I pulled the sleeve up. Tapping a spot on the under arm of his bicep, I said, "This is one of the pressure points." Moving my index and middle finger which were pressed together, I touched a spot right below the crease of his elbow, "This is another." I moved the fingers again to a spot directly on the side of his forearm. "This is the final one in the arm."

"Now, don't move," I said. I jabbed each spot on the arm I had just shown him firmly, while his Uncle watched from afar. Zuko grunted with each jab. I took a step back from him and I said, "Shoot a fireball at me with that arm." I looked bored as Zuko looked at me like I was crazy, but he complied. Holding his palm up, the firebender attempted to shoot a fireball at me but failed as he kept trying. Walking back to him, I put my hand on top of his and lowered it.

"Zuko, the pressure points are crucial points in your body that transport energy or chi," I said. "There are three in each arm and four in each leg, while one resides in your abdomen and one in the neck."

Looking at him intently, I said, "By jabbing each pressure point firmly, I blocked up your chi passage in that arm, therefore rendering your bending useless."

The prince looked at me with an amazed expression and asked, "Does this work on any type of bending?"

I nodded and said, "It's helpful for the non-bending ninjas, but I like using it as well. On more muscular benders, you should hit all three, but otherwise two will do. I wasn't sure about you so I hit all three just in case."

I turned to my tone serious and said, "Mind you, each pressure point must be hit at a specific angle, all must be hit at an angle of exactly 109 degrees. The order in which you hit them doesn't matter. Look at your arm."

Zuko followed my orders and glanced to the arm which was rendered useless. The pressure points showed themselves because they all had black bruises on the skin above them.

"That's how you can tell whether it worked or not," I said taking a step closer to him. I put my hand on his arm as I looked up at him. "To get the chi flowing through the arm again, simply massage the spot in a clockwise, circular motion using your index and middle finger." I did this to each spot on his arm and my other hand held up his arm. The top of my head only came up to his chin as I massaged his arm.

"Try bending with that arm," I said. He did and it worked this time, while the bruises had disappeared. I smiled and said, "It worked."

"Now you will try to do the same on me," I said, smiling. He looked at me with a worried expression. "I'll show you the angle again." I didn't jab him this time but I showed him what the angle looked like. I held out my arm and he hit the points firmly, but I didn't show any emotion on my face.

"Hit all three, Zuko," I said because he only went with two at first. "I know I'm not muscular in the least, but I want you to get used to hitting all three as a precaution."

"You have bandaging over two of the spots," he said as he held my arm up and looked at my forearm.

"It doesn't matter," I said. "It works even through clothing."

After Zuko had jabbed three spots on my arm, I looked at my arm. I don't think they had worked very well, but I ordered him to stand about ten feet in front of me. I held my palm up to face him and said, "You'd better hope this works or be ready to dodge."

The Prince stared intently at my palm as I attempted to shoot a fireball at him. A blue fireball jumped out of my hand and crashed toward Zuko who dove out of the way. He stood looking at me incredulously.

"I told you the martial arts are very precise," I barked at him. "You weren't accurate enough. I want ten pushups!"

He raised an eyebrow at the low amount of pushups I had given him. He'd learn in due time that nothing's as simple as it seems with me. Zuko assumed the typical pushup position and did ten two-handed pushups. Standing, he looked at me for my next order.

"That type of pushup is weak and old school," I said turning so my back faced him. "From now on when I say "pushup," I want ninja pushups, which look like this."

I did a handstand and pushed myself up and down ten times, while keeping my balance well. I held the handstand and looked at him with his expression of shock on his face. I knew he would have trouble doing these but he had to learn.

Remaining in the handstand, I said, "These pushups push your muscles more and train your balance." Pushing off the ground, I pushed myself into the air, flipping and landing on my feet now facing Zuko, who stared at me like I was crazy.

"I want ten ninja pushups," I said, smirking while he just stared at me. "I guess you don't know how to do a handstand do you?"

He shook his head as he frowned at me. I knew he would get frustrated with me, but I didn't really care. It was my job to teach and that's what I was doing.

"I'll hold your feet up for you, for now at least," I said. "Do what I did, but I'll grab your ankles."

Zuko did a handstand but immediately began faltering. I grabbed an ankle with each hand and said, "For a handstand keep your legs tight together and straight up."

I barked, "Point your toes! Now go! I want ten."

Zuko tried to do one as I kept his balance for him, but as he lowered himself he had trouble pushing himself up. By the fifth one, sweat was pouring down his face and wetting his hair.

"I bet Azula wouldn't have any problem doing this," I said, mockingly. Zuko growled deep in his throat as I felt him heat up. Then he fiercely finished the rest of the pushups as I gently let his feet go while he lay on the ground panting.

I sat beside his head on the ground and said, "Showing anger is a sign of weakness, Zuko. You look stronger without showing all your rage, because you're strong enough to contain it. Like me, I get angry a lot, but you never see it on me. It'll frustrate any opponent to see that you don't anger easily."

I pulled out a water skin and handed it to him as I continued, "I compared you to Azula to provoke you and you failed because I felt your ankles heat up. By the time I'm done with you, you'll easily be able to defeat Azula. I promise you that."

Zuko looked at me and smiled when he saw that I was serious while he sat up drinking the water. "So let that be your goal Zuko. Remember that someday you'll be able to show the world that Azula isn't much of a prodigy at all."

I grabbed the water skin out of his hands and said, "Not too much, my pupil." I smirked at the title I had given him while he frowned. "Now, try to hit my pressure points again."

Zuko and I continued this training for some time until he had hit all the pressure points in both arms, my neck, my legs, and my abdomen, rendering my bending useless. I massaged each point gently and said, "Good, you have each spot memorized?"

"Yes, sensei," Zuko said, panting. He had done more pushups when it failed, but then he finally got them all in one day.

"Good, remember them well, because I'll randomly tell you to hit pressure points to test your knowledge," I said. "You did well for your first topic, Zuko. Now, let's go over some of the other points."

Picking up the scroll, I motioned for him to stand behind me and look over my shoulder to see the scroll.

I pointed to the next color of dots, which was the blue points and said, "These blue points are called nerve points. The dots show the location of certain nerves that cause different things to happen to a person. There is only one in every limb, so there are only a total of four in the body."

Handing him the scroll, I reached to my ponytail and pulled out a senbon needle. I held it in front of his face as he analyzed it carefully.

"The senbon needle is the only weapon accurate enough to hit these points because each point is the size of the tip of this needle," I said. "This takes a great amount of mastery to perform, Zuko. It requires a large amount of practice."

Grabbing his arm again, I said, "This may hurt a bit, but it'll end quickly."

Taking the needle I stabbed into the point which was located right above the crease of the elbow. Immediately, his arm began shaking violently, so I pulled the needle out, ending the shaking.

"If this needle is embedded there for more than five seconds, the shaking lasts for fifteen to twenty minutes," I said wiping the needle off as Zuko rubbed the spot, which bled. Unraveling some of the bandaging on my forearm I ripped it off and wrapped it around Zuko's arm where I had just stabbed. "Did you feel the pain course through your entire arm?"

Zuko nodded as he clenched his teeth.

"That nerve runs through your entire arm and hitting the middle of it causes that," I said, indifferently as I heard rocks crashing close by. I wondered how Aang was progressing.

"I use this often on my enemies. I did it to your sister twice now," I said, smirking. Zuko returned the smirk and asked me what she did.

"The first time she stopped and held that arm like it was going to fall off," I said, laughing. "The second time she pulled the needle out too quickly for it to take any decent effect."

Zuko smiled at me and looked into my blue eyes while I stared at his golden visible one. I could tell he admired me to a certain point, but it was nothing more than student and teacher as of then.

Coughing, I said, "Well, it's difficult for you to practice this one because I'd rather not be your personal pin cushion."

Rummaging through my bag, I found a target I used to train regularly. I took four kunai knives and stuck them sharply into a rock wall we were near to hold the target up. Walking back to Zuko, I stood in front of him and looked up to his eyes.

"Alright, Zuko," I said. "Precision is another important aspect of the martial arts. Just watch."

Without turning my back, I pulled out a senbon, my fingers wrapped around it. I threw it over my shoulder and Zuko looked at the target with a bewildered expression. Turning around, I looked at the target and saw that I had hit a perfect bull's eye.

"I only need to see my target once, and I'll never forget it's location as long as it remains stationary," I said, indifferently. "But that's a result from a life of experience."

Tapping the holster on my right thigh, I said, "This is a shuriken and kunai knife holster. I only keep about two kunai knives with me." I pulled out a black kunai knife and showed it to Zuko. Putting my finger in the hole, I twirled it around my finger while Zuko backed away.

"I don't keep many of these because they're bigger and not as quick," I said, replacing the knife back in its holster. I pulled out a shuriken and said, "This is a shuriken, also known as a ninja star. They're faster than kunai knives."

I pointed to the holster on my left thigh and said, "Of course, the senbon needle is the greatest and my preferred weapon of the three. It is quick, precise, and deadly if used right. But I think we'll start with the easiest of the three: the kunai knife."

We continued this training for awhile. Everytime Zuko missed the bull's eye, he had to do another ten ninja pushups. At the rate I was pushing him, Zuko was able to do a handstand on his own by the end of the day. I was relieved by this as well. Time was not on our side considering I spent about fourteen years of my life to master these arts.


	11. Chapter 11

The group gathered around the campfire in a circle. Iroh was to the left of Zuko while I was at his right and Toph was next to me with her pupil to her right, while Katara and Sokka finished out the circle.

I heard Iroh begin talking to Zuko as I took a drink of my water.

"How did it go Prince Zuko?" he asked his nephew. That old man showed more respect to his nephew than his nephew did to him, which I felt to be entirely backwards.

"The martial arts are rather interesting," Zuko said to his Uncle, while I listened and the other four talked amongst themselves. "There's so much detail involved in every aspect of them."

Interjecting I looked up from my cup and said, "Took me my life to master them. You only have until the end of summer."

Prince Zuko looked down at my sitting form and asked, "Well can't you teach me after then?"

Swishing the liquid in my cup around, I stared at it intently.

"Depends on what becomes of me," I said, thinking of my destiny. "I may not be alive to teach you."

Zuko was surprised by my sudden somber nature. Looking at me covered in black, he normally saw a fierce, but beautiful fighter. Now I had fear painted across my pale features with the Prince looking at me with a worried expression.

"Why wouldn't you live?" Zuko asked, looking down at me.

"In facing Fire Lord Ozai, Aang may be facing the entire Fire Nation," I said still staring in my cup as though I would somehow see my destiny revealed in the liquid. "I swore to protect the Avatar…with my life. If it comes down to it, I will sacrifice myself for his safety. But I hope to be by his side facing Ozai."

"Why would you sacrifice yourself for him?" Zuko asked.

Iroh looked at me with some interest as well as I said, "What is one useless life compared to that of the Avatar's?"

The old man interjected and said, "Your life isn't useless, Mikomi."

"It's not?" I asked sarcastically as turned my ice blue eyes to look into his.

"No life is," Iroh said after he took a sip of his tea. "To someone else, you could mean the world."

"Like who?" I asked even more sarcastically. I knew I meant the world to no one, maybe I was a friend but I wasn't all that important.

The General frowned and looked into his tea and said, "You have friends, who care for you, don't you?"

I looked at the rest of the group as they all talked together, laughing and smiling.

"Yeah, but it's not like their lives would end if I was gone," I said.

Iroh laughed and said, "You never know, Mikomi. There may be someone in this world that would be heartbroken," he turned to his nephew smiling, "if you were gone."

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Well as of now, Zuko only has until the end of the summer. I might teach him if Ozai is defeated, but I might flee back to the Earth Kingdom. I don't know."

"Why would you come back here?" Zuko asked with disgust in his voice.

Glaring at him, I said, "Well, there's the fact that no matter what happens to Ozai, I'm still wanted in the Fire Nation. Believe it or not I like this place a lot. Besides I need someway to survive. I was a bounty hunter before I joined Aang."

Iroh nodded his understanding, while Zuko said, "What if I become Fire Lord and pardon you, what would you do then?"

Staring at Zuko, I wondered what he was playing at, asking a question like that. He obviously saw that I was puzzled so, he said, "Well for teaching me, maybe I'd pardon your crimes against the Fire Nation, but I'd probably force you to remain with me to teach me more."

I gave him an expression that clearly showed my distaste for that idea.

"Who says I would want to be a teacher for the rest of my life?" I said, with an icy voice.

"Who says you'd have a choice?" Zuko hissed, looking down at me.

Looking at him with a bored expression, I said, "Here's another lesson for you." I tossed a leaf into the fire and watched it burn. The leaf crumpled and lost its beauty under the harsh rule of the fire. It curled up and disintegrated into little pieces. "A great ninja can escape from anything without anyone noticing, which is my speciallty…escaping."

Zuko just glared at me after this as he ate his food that Katara had prepared. I saw his distaste for the food, but after traveling for days with us, it'd start tasting like gourmet cooking.

I finished my food and put away the bowls we had bought recently, while I grabbed my spear and my bag. Walking to Zuko's sitting form, I said, "Let's go."

"What? I trained all day!" he exclaimed smoke issuing from his nostrils. The others all looked at us interested in what I would say.

"Yeah, you trained physically, but as a ninja, one must be mentally disciplined as well," I said, with a bored tone. "Get up and follow me."

After grumbling, Zuko stood up and glared down at me. I turned and we walked away together. My destination was the woods close by here. After walking for sometime, I found a small clearing where the moon shone down and the stars hovered over. I walked into it and sat by bag and spear down on the ground beside me while I sat Indian style and Zuko did the same.

"Alright, the reason we're out here so far," I said. "As a teacher, I like to know as much as possible about my students."

Zuko looked down at my eyes at this statement as I continued.

"So, we are going to share our pasts completely and entirely to each other," I said indifferently.

I saw Zuko's fists light up in the dark as he said, "What if I don't feel like sharing?"

Standing up as I grabbed my belongings and used my spear as a walking stick, I said, "I guess you don't feel like becoming truly skilled in the martial arts either." I walked back toward the campsite until I felt Zuko grab my arm firmly before the edge of the clearing.

Turning around, I saw him looking down on me with an angry glare. His hand wrapped entirely around my bicep easily. It was warm because he had become angered.

"Fine," he said, still holding on to my bicep. "I'll tell you."

Without moving a step, I looked at his hand and then looked back up to his eyes and said, "I don't know. You don't really seem to respect me at all. Maybe it's because I haven't revealed my true power yet. Nevertheless, you should respect someone who is trying to do you a kindness that you don't seem to deserve." I turned and tried to pull away, but Zuko just pulled me back with my feet still on the ground, leaving dirt revealed through the emerald green grass.

"Show me your true power," I heard him say behind me, as I looked into the forest.

"No," I said. His grip was still firmly around my bicep. "My true power is murderous and destructive."

Zuko was silent as I tried to walk away again but I felt him pull me back once more.

"I do respect you," he said firmly. "You are the most intelligent person and the greatest fighter I've ever met."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Flattery doesn't go far with me, Zuko." I squirmed to try and free my arm from his hold, but it just tightened around my arm.

"It's not flattery when it's the truth," Zuko said sternly. I could tell he meant it this time, so I sighed.

"Fine, but I'd advise you to release my arm before something disagreeable occurs," I said with a bored tone. I felt him release my arm. I turned around and found him strangely close to me. Looking into his eyes, I sidestepped him and walked back to where we were sitting and took a seat.

Zuko did the same right in front of me and began telling his story. It was indeed a tragic story filled with much hardship, but I needed to share my thoughts on his story with him if he ever wanted to heal from it.

"You," I said. "Should've done what your mother said. She told you to never forget who you are. I think along the way you've forgotten, Zuko."

He was about to open his mouth, but I looked at him as my eyes turned their golden color in the moonlight and shouted, "Don't object to my thoughts!"

This silenced him sufficiently as I continued.

"To me, it sounds like you were once a happier child, who was poisoned by the ways of your younger sister," I said calmly. "You shouldn't try to be like her at all, because one day believe it or not, she will get hers. Personally, I wouldn't mind being the one finishing her off, but that's something I believe you need to do."

Zuko nodded. It seemed he was glad that understood that, but it was completely obvious.

"You try and do things on your own and you deny the help of your Uncle, who is the greatest firebender I've ever met," I said. "You know why he is the greatest?"

The Prince looked at me for a moment and then shook his head.

"Because he draws wisdom from more than one place," I said firmly. "He studies the different types of bending and takes some of their methods. Believe it or not, but each one is connected if you look at them carefully."

This sparked interest in the Prince as I continued, "Waterbending is fluid, but powerful like a firebender should be. Earthbending is persistent, just like the determination of a firebender. Airbending is quick and free which would enhance a firebender's power. We benders have a lot more in common than one would think."

I paused and sighed.

"Zuko this will be meaningless unless you can learn to let go of your past," I said, calmly. "First, I'll tell you about my past and reveal to you something I've never told anyone else before.

Zuko was interested at this point and sat more erect with the light shining down on his scarred face.

Staring him straight in the face I said, "I was two years old when my father was sent over to the Earth Kingdom in a new regiment that was to be used as bait, much like the one you fought for. I stowed away on the ship being a foolish young girl. My father was killed in that battle and what became of my mother I will never know. I was raised by the infamous ninja Sumiyaka Ryoku. He never treated me as a daughter, but treated me as his martial arts student. That man pushed me harder than I will ever push you, because I don't want to put another person through that."

I searched deep within myself for the courage to say what I was about to and found it. Taking in breath, I said, "When I was fourteen and I had completed my training, Ryoku challenged me. He said that if I didn't want to be kept as a slave for the rest of my life, I had to kill him."

The Prince stared at me with unhidden interest at his point as I continued.

"As you can see, I'm not a slave. Everyone wonders how I know Ryoku is dead. I know because I killed him," I said, revealing my deepest secret.

Zuko looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time. He was obviously shocked and if I could've read his mind at that point, he probably would be wondering how I beat the greatest martial artist alive.

"I don't know why he did it, but he left me no choice Zuko," I said calmly. "After that, I became a bounty hunter in the Earth Kingdom, bringing the heads of dangerous criminals to the officials. I became a cold blooded killer, murdering countless Fire Nation soldiers. Then I realized my rage was aimed at the wrong group and realized it should be aimed at the cause of the war, Fire Lord Ozai, which is why I joined up with Aang."

I paused to let it sink in for Zuko. I knew he was surprised by all of these revelations, but they were all true, so he'd have to cope with the fact that I was a murderer someday.

"I had to let go of my past to learn to channel lightning Zuko," I said. I stood up with my bag and spear on my back. "I don't believe in self-pity, but I do know that I never loved in my life, which many would consider a sad fate. Friendship is what keeps me going. Learn to rely on your friends and loved ones Zuko, because they won't turn from you."

Looking down, I said, "What will your choice be Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation?"

He stood up and was compelled since I used his proper title.

"Will you let go of your tragic past to create a brighter future?" I said as he took a step closer to me. I looked straight up to his eyes now as he looked down.

Zuko looked at me with an almost weakened expression and I actually saw tears running down his face.

"I will," Zuko said as he choked a little between tears.

It was shocking watching this guy break down. He was always strong and unfaltering, but now he was crying right in front of me.

I quieted my voice in sympathy and said, "Repeat after me, Zuko. I will not let my dark past cloud the skies of my bright future."

He was silent for a moment but then managed to say, "I…will not let my dark past cloud the skies of my…bright future."

I whispered, "Good." As I said that, I placed a hand upon his broad shoulder after reaching up. I hoped to comfort him, but I was never really all that good at comforting people.

Suddenly, he let his head droop and rest on my shoulder while his arms hung lifelessly at his sides. I felt the tears run down my arms as I looked to his head with newly grown hair lying on me. Unsure of what to do, I dropped my spear and bag and slowly wrapped my arms around his back, standing on my tiptoes. I drew circles on his back with my fingers and whispered, "Let it out, Zuko."

Upon impulse, I felt my hand run through his soft hair gently trying to comfort him. I felt the sharp intakes of breath as his back rose and fell. He had had an unfair life for someone who was deep down as good as he. I knew it to be true somehow. Deep down, there was a heart as gold as his eyes. I moved my arms to be wrapped around his neck as I hugged him tightly as the sobbed lightly on my shoulder.

Then I felt his strong arms wrap around the small of my back. He lifted me off the ground as he stood to his full height and pulled me into him, while I still had my arms around his neck. I was surprised by this sudden and powerful embrace. My feet hung lifelessly below me as Zuko still had his face buried in my shoulder.

Next I knew, he was lowering himself to sit Indian style with me sitting on his thigh, while my legs draped over the other. But I was still pulled into his hard chest tightly and now he rested his head on the top of mine. I pulled my arms tight to my body, but then began pushing against him.

Lifting his head, he looked down at my blue eyes. I knew I wanted this and I knew he did too, but it wasn't time. I could just tell. Pulling away from him, I stood and looked down at his sitting form.

"I'm your teacher now Zuko," I said my voice cracking involuntarily. "A teacher and a friend…but that's all I am."

I picked up my belongings and began walking back toward the campsite with Zuko following me closely. I could almost feel his eyes on me the entire time.

The next few months I taught Zuko almost everything I could mostly weapons and knowledge training. Zuko never tried to approach me as more than a student again. He had become strangely protective of me during this course of time, claiming that it was only because I was his teacher and needed me to teach him more. I knew that to be a lie. He just liked to think I needed protecting as the small, fragile female, which was completely false.

I noticed him come to respect me more and more as time went on. The more I showed him how much I knew and how powerful I could be the more he seemed to see me as who I truly was: an ass-kicking ninja and a firebending female master. It's about time he did if you asked me. Seriously, Zuko stayed close behind me as if he was my personal body guard. On the physical side, Zuko grew taller and more muscular even in those few months while his hair grew out so he had a ponytail soon again.


	12. Chapter 12

It was nearing the end of the summer and I had taught Aang all I knew about firebending with the help of Iroh and Zuko. The Prince could successfully create lightning and redirect it as well. He could also bend blue fire like his younger sister.

I had seen great changes in the Prince of this time with us. He'd become a good friend of Aang's and surprisingly Sokka's too. Katara and Toph liked him as a friend as well. We all got along like a family. Zuko actually smiled more often now and learned to let go of his past from what I saw. He learned to use the help of those who care about him instead of ignoring it, which made me proud. Everything that had happened made me proud because I knew I was the cause of it.

Now we were about to cross into the Fire Nation, where Zuko had bought new armor for our upcoming battle I thought. Or at least that's what I had thought.

Right before arriving in the palace grounds, Zuko called out to the guards who responded to him which was odd to me. The palace was a beautiful ivory color that seemed to gleam slightly gold in the light of the sun it was surrounded by forest on one side and by the town on the other.

Upon calling the guards, Zuko stared at the rest of us and smirked, "Arrest the Avatar and Mikomi of the Fire Nation and you can arrest their Earthbender and Water Tribe friends."

My mouth dropped open in surprise at Zuko's actions. He had just betrayed his teacher and friends. The only problem was we were in the town and surrounded by mass amounts of soldiers. Looking around, I dropped my bag and my spear on the ground and summoned lightning and fired it at the soldiers sending many of them flying, while Katara and Sokka were captured as was Aang. Toph they had to wrap in layers of chains to control.

Zuko crossed his arms over his newly armored chest and smirked at my struggling. Iroh just watched sadly and shook his head at his nephew's actions. I fought like a caged animal surrounded by the soldiers.

I shot lightning at many of them diminishing their numbers greatly as I pulled out some senbon and flung them at eight firebenders at once, killing them all with one hit. Then I felt something at my arm. One of the soldiers had thrown a chain lasso around my arm, but my arm erupted in flames and it disintegrated quickly.

Looking around me, I saw many firebenders with chain lassos in their hands so I engulfed my entire body in blue flames. My eyes from the outside looked like they were glowing blue and my fiery blue ponytail swung behind me as I attacked the ranks of firebenders, but one of them laid a hit on me, the fire disappearing in an instant. I pulled out more senbon and killed another ten firebenders. This is all I could do while Zuko watched smiling cruelly.

A chain lasso got around both of my arms from each side; the firebenders holding them pulled them tight as I felt myself caught. Then I shot blue flames out of my mouth at the firebenders in front of me, engulfing a few of them completely in flame, but I was stopped when a chain lasso was around my neck. Zuko walked out to the middle while the rest of our captured group watched from the side.

He smiled at me evilly and pulled my hands behind my back and wrapped iron wire to keep them together. Walking back in front of me, he said, "So, Mikomi-sensei, this is your destructive and murderous power you mentioned before."

As he said this he waved a hand around him and I looked to see over fifty firebenders dead on the streets of the Fire Nation capital. I panted and sweated as I looked up at Zuko with sad eyes. He looked down on me without pity at all in his golden eyes.

"Get away from me," I roared at him as my blue eyes turned gold again, panting heavily.

My head drooped to look at the street with my eyes closed. Then I felt Zuko's hand underneath my chin lifting it up to look up at him as I leaned my weight again the chains, except for at my neck.

"You should control your temper better sensei," he said, smirking. "Or that chain could leave a burn on your pretty neck."

I jerked my chin away from his hand as fire erupted from my mouth, but Zuko dodged it and slapped my cheek with the back of his hand. I felt the rage growing, but I couldn't hold it in, I fought against the firebenders holding the ends of the chains and rammed into Zuko knocking him to the ground.

Standing, Zuko signaled for the firebender holding the chain around my neck to come forward. The firebender handed the chain to Prince Zuko as I watched sadly. Zuko wrapped the chain tightly around his wrist and tugged on it making me gasp for air and my eyes widen.

Another firebender brought Aang forward and put a chain lasso around his neck, leaving the end in Zuko's hand. Zuko guided us in through the gates of the Fire Palace where people congregated as though this was all planned. I realized that it probably was. I held my head high as I walked behind Zuko. The crowds all looked at Aang mostly, but a lot of people stared at me. I heard them whispering about how such a small girl could cause so much trouble to them and then out of nowhere I heard someone yell, "Eat this traitor!"

The man threw an old cabbage at me, but I turned my head and opened my mouth and blue fire erupted from my mouth as the cabbage disintegrated in midair. After the fire disappeared, I glared dangerously at the man who threw it and snorted smoke from my nostrils.

"Try that again," I said viciously as he shrunk back into the crowd.

The crowd erupted with excitement after seeing my display of power. Zuko just walked placidly in front of us, occasionally tugging on our chains at our necks to show is control over us to the crowd. I was fed up with it though.

Fire erupted from my mouth as I disintegrated the middle of the leash holding on to me. Freeing myself, I ran forward and jumped in the air and roundhouse kicked Zuko's back. The guards flanked around me, but did a spinning fire kick as Aang dropped to the ground, but soon more guards came and grabbed him. Yeah, I did all this with my hands tied behind my back.

The people in the crowd were screaming as I finished off the rest of the guards, who were all knocked out cold on the ground. Looking in front of me, I saw Zuko get up and look at me with fury evident in his face. Then he charged me, but I sidestepped him and kicked his feet out from under him and lifted my flaming blue foot into the air and brought it down on the ground, where Zuko just laid. He had rolled out of the way to dodge it and jumped to his feet behind me. The Fire Prince charged my back, but I jumped up and flipped over top of him as he ran under me. Gathering a great force at the back of my throat, I shot a massive blue fire ball in his direction, but he merely sliced through it. The crowd watched in awe as I thrust my foot at the ground sending a snake of fire across the ground toward Zuko, who jumped over it, but sliding my foot across the ground, I headed it back in his direction. It disappeared as Zuko dodged it again and shot fire at me. I dodged all of them by disappearing with my speed and appearing behind Zuko. I was able to lift my leg high enough to kick his back after spinning to give it more power. He went flying in the opposite direction. Getting up he glared at me and shot a large amount of fire at me. I dodged it but found Zuko right behind me holding onto my arms.

"You'll stop if you know what's good for you," he hissed into my ear. I was about to retort when I felt something stab my bicep. Someone had stepped forward and had injected something into me. Zuko continued whispering into my ear, "That drug you were injected with will stop your bending for a week, so stop fighting."

Then suddenly everything fell silent, but there was only a single person clapping. Looking toward the open doors of the palace, I saw Fire Lord Ozai clapping and smirking down at Zuko and me. He began walking down until he arrived at the middle of the stairs, still wearing that smirk that I wanted to slap off of his face.

"Well done Zuko," he said. His voice almost sounded like a cruel hiss. "The Avatar and Mikomi." He walked closer to me as I drooped against Zuko's hold.

He stood directly in front of me and said, "You're quite the firebender, little girl." Then the Fire Lord began circling me like a hawk after Zuko had released me. "Is it true that you were taught by Sumiyaka Ryoku?"

Looking at the ground, I said, "Yes."

"And is it true that Sumiyaka Ryoku is dead?" he asked.

"Yes…"

"How did he die, little girl?"

I hesitated but then felt Ozai's hand sweep across my cheek and he roared, "HOW DID HE DIE!"

Looking up, I stared at him and yelled. "I KILLED HIM!"

Ozai smirked down at me and said, "You killed your own master. Why?"

I panted and said, "He challenged me. Either I was his slave for the rest of my life or I took his life."

Ozai smiled again and said, "My you've done a lot of damage in your young life. You've probably killed over 200 of my soldiers by now. I wonder then maybe how many you could take out of our enemy. So I will leave you with a choice."

"I will never kill the innocent people of other nations," I hissed at Ozai.

The Fire Lord paused and smiled at my discomfort and continued, "Well then. You're a pretty, young girl and Zuko doesn't have a concubine although he's already seventeen. So either you remain here as Zuko's concubine or you go off to war and fight for the Fire Nation."

I gasped and turned my head to look at Zuko who was staring at his father with an emotionless face. I wondered what he would think of my choice.

"I'll remain here," I said to Ozai, who grinned evilly. I looked over to my other four companions and saw them frowning sadly in my direction. I mumbled an apology to them, but I refused to kill members of the other nations.


	13. Chapter 13

Zuko dragged me up the ornate golden halls of the Fire Palace up to what I believed to be his chambers. He held onto my bound wrists with one hand, while the other opened a large ornate door opening to a beautiful room with marble floors of a slightly golden color. A large window overlooked the village that lay right in front of the palace as the sun was sinking over the horizon, making the sky look like a flaming painting.

I wrenched free of Zuko's grasp even though my hands were bound together behind my back, so I could stomp over to an armchair that sat right in front of part of the large windows. Plopping down in it, I sat up straight and looked out the window angrily, trying to keep myself calm. Zuko's shoes tapped on the floor as he walked closer and closer to me. Now he stood at my side, looking down at me through his scarred eye. Taking a knife from his belt, he cut through the wire on my wrists as I took off the chain leash that was still around my neck and rubbed the reddened skin.

The firebending Prince reached a hand to touch the red, irritated skin on my neck but I slapped it away, with a glare up at him.

"Touch me again and I'll have you begging for mercy," I growled at him. He returned the glare with equal anger and took a step so now he stood directly in front of me.

"You'd better learn respect now, Mikomi," he said emphasizing that he didn't use the title I told him to use toward me. "Get used to being inferior to me, because I own you now."

Leaning up closer to him slowly, I smiled and sliced my nails upward on his armor, leaving four deep scratches with my sharp claws in his new armor.

"No one owns me," I said as I crossed my legs, while I leaned back in the chair, my blue eyes daring him to do something he would regret.

His eyes flashed down on me as a smirk spread on my red lips. I was being very difficult to him then, mostly resentment for being his official concubine, but I don't like that word. It made me feel disgusting and lowly, so I didn't even act like one toward him. The best descriptive title for it would be a very stubborn prisoner.

"You'll regret that," he growled as his hand shot out and wrapped itself entirely around my bicep. Zuko pulled me to my feet harshly as a hand grabbed at his forearm. My nails weren't sharp or strong enough to pierce his armor, but they were enough to scratch at it. While I tried to escape, he tugged me closer and put his free hand on my cheek and stroked it with his thumb. His shins were covered in armor so I couldn't bash those in.

"You," he growled deeply, "are _mine_."

Luckily, he was close enough so I could threaten his life once more. I pointed my index finger and its sharp nail at the vital point in his neck.

"My nails are rather strong as you have noticed, Zuko," I said, smirking. "I now have my nail positioned at the vital point in your neck, something I never taught you."

He removed his hand from my cheek but I punctured the skin above the vital point, drawing some blood.

"Ah, ah, ah," I said reprimanding him. "Make another move and I'll kill you."

Zuko glared at me cruelly as his body tensed with his hot breath coming down on my face from his mouth which hovered just above my head.

"Now, remove your hand from my bicep," I said, smirking. He did so slowly and hesitantly. Then he stepped back away from me, so my nail wasn't threatening his life anymore.

"Regardless of what you do, you will be my possession, Mikomi," he said glaring down into my blue eyes.

I smiled at him knowingly and said, "That's what you think."

Growling at me, he walked past me and said, "I'll be sending someone in to make your nails a little less dangerous."

The Prince made his grand exit by slamming the door, so I decided to dive into the bed. I laughed and lay on my back with my hands behind my head. I smiled at the ceiling and awaited this person.

Eventually, that person did come. It was some sort of chambermaid I guess. She was dressed in baggy crimson clothing with the Fire Nation insignia on them showing that she served in the Fire Palace. After much cutting and filing, much meaning about an hour's worth of it, she finally sanded and cut my nails down so they weren't catlike anymore. I missed them, because now I didn't have any weapons to threaten Zuko with. The maid didn't even try to make conversation which I found a little rude, but I wasn't complaining.

I got in the bath connected to Zuko's room guided by her directly after she was finished my nails. Pulling my ponytail free, she gently let my hair tumble down my back and looked at it with admiring eyes.

After all of my clothing was off she scooped it up in her arms, leaving a small package by the bath. I looked at her like she was crazy.

"What are you doing with my clothes!" I demanded.

The maid stopped and looked back at me and said, "I'm washing them. Your bed clothing is in the package. It's required wear for concubines of royalty by order of the Fire Lord. He made yours special for his son, I guess."

I stared at her incredulously and swam over to the side of the bath and tore the package open. Pulling out the garment, I found a golden silk baby doll dress, which ended at above my mid thigh. It had black lace sewn on the bottom and top edges, with the straps made of the same ornate lace. Obviously, it was low cut and at the bottom had a black Fire Nation insignia on the right side. Disgust flooded over my face with my loathing gaze on it.

"I'd rather wear my dirty clothes than this," I said, begging.

"Sorry, but Fire Lord's orders," she said, actually looking a little bit sympathetic. "But I don't pity you. I'd rather be Zuko's concubine than a lowly chambermaid, plus you're beautiful. Zuko's a handsome guy."

"Yeah, but I was his martial arts teacher until he betrayed us, so you don't know half of the story," I said still holding this disgusting outfit.

Shrugging her shoulders she made her exit and left me alone in the bath. After bathing completely I got out of the bath and put on that horrid rag.

Looking at myself in the mirror after my hair had dried and now hung with some slight wave in it, I saw a pink blush on my cheeks. I felt so revealed wearing it. The silk hugged my curves perfectly and revealed some cleavage at the top, while my arms and legs were bare. I bet my eyes would match this perfectly when I got mad. Then it would be perfect for me, despite the fact I was completely uncomfortable in it.

Glancing around the room, I saw some sort of closet. Opening the wooden door, I found a silk robe of the same color hanging on the door. I pulled it out and realized it was probably Zuko's. Without even a thought, I swung it over my shoulders and put it on. It matched this disgusting dress perfectly, even with a black Fire Nation insignia on the back of it. I pulled my hair out from the robe's grasp as I felt it fall down my back. The robe was rather large and looked like it had a train on it because it extended behind me as I walked out of the bath.

The sun had set by that time and the moon was above the town in front of the palace, creating a serene image across the landscape. Behind me, I heard the door open as I crossed my arms over my chest to keep the robe closed, hoping Zuko wouldn't see the dress. His footsteps became louder and louder as I turned to face him.

The Prince stopped his walk and stared at me with admiration in his eyes. He walked until he stood directly over me, but I walked by him dragging the robe with me. I stomped toward the door and grabbed its golden handle and tried to open it. It was locked. I cursed my luck under my breath and leaned my forehead against the door. Zuko was taking off his armor and clothing behind me, leaving nothing but a pair of black pants on.

There it was again. His feet heading straight toward me, I felt him arrive directly and closely behind me. I saw a hand leaning above and to the right on the door, without taking my forehead off of it. Holding tightly to the front of the robes, I turned and saw the Fire Prince leaning over me, trapping me in between his two muscular arms. He really had gotten taller over his time spent with me. The top of my head barely passed his shoulders now.

His golden eyes flashed down at my attire and then back to my eyes. I tried bending my knees and sliding underneath of one of his arms, but he slid that hand lower on the door so I couldn't escape.

"What are you hiding underneath of my robe?" he asked.

Glaring at him, I said, "Who says I'm hiding something?"

"Well, you're holding onto that robe awfully tight," he retorted. I looked away as he lifted his hands and wedged them between my robe so they rested on my bare shoulders. Once he felt my bare skin, he began sliding his hand down my arms causing the robe to fall off my shoulders and down to the floor, revealing the dress that his father picked out just for me.

His eyes seemed to widen a little at the sight of me and he took a step toward me, but I put a hand on his bare chest, pushing him away.

My arm wasn't enough to stop him as I felt the door on my back and Zuko's breath fanning across my face as I lowered my arm to my side and looked up into his eyes with fear.

"Don't try to stop me, Mikomi," he said softly. "I've wanted you for so long and I've waited for this day eagerly."

His hands went under my arms and slid slowly down my sides until they reached my hips. My arms I held crossed over my chest tightly as I looked at the floor, while he stroked my hips in a circular motion. I wanted so badly to resist, but there was something inside of me that willed him on and told me to let him have his way.

I felt one hand leave my hip and reposition itself underneath of my chin. Zuko's hand lifted my head up as I noticed he had taken another step closer to me and bent his knees so he was at eye level with me.

My arms still crossed protectively over my chest as he looked into my fear-filled eyes with something that almost looked like tenderness.

"I won't hurt you, Mikomi," he said gently to me as his lips brushed softly against my cheek. "But, I will get what I want from you, whether forced or unforced."


End file.
